


Summerton Academy

by nicosine



Category: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: F/F, F/M, high school x mystery crime au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 16:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10222892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicosine/pseuds/nicosine
Summary: Mare hadn't expected this when she'd moved all the way from her little town in the countryside to the bustling, metropolitan capital of Norta. She'd never asked to be caught up in all the drama of her prestigious new school, Summerton Academy, but her luck's always been a faithless friend. Soon, she's ensnared in a dizzying web of calculus quizzes, dead doppelgängers and the dark-haired sons of CEO billionaires. However, when a murder is thrown into the mixture, things begin to get messy. Mare learns that there is more of a malicious side to Summerton than meets the eye.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, everyone! i've been meaning to post this since forever bc i'm an indecisive ass bitch, but here goes nothing. pls be kind & i hope u enjoy :)

“Thanks for the ride,” Mare said as she hopped out of her brother’s red convertible, throwing her leather jacket over a shoulder. Closing the car door with a foot, she swiveled her head to look at Shade, who rolled down his window to stick his head out of it.

Grinning crookedly, he pushed his shades up his head and replied, “Anytime. Have a good first day, okay, sis?”

“Yeah, I’ll try,” She mumbled in return. Shade pressed two fingers to his forehead in a silly salute, and off he was, roaring down the street to his college.

Mare turned. She stood alone before the looming building of Summerton Academy, and like every other structure she’d seen in this city so far, it was massive. There were no longer any students bustling about the carpark or the entrance, heading on towards their own agendas, which made her increasingly aware of the fact that she was fifteen minutes late on her first day at her new school.

She sighed, staring down at her feet. She was wearing her purple Nike shoes, the ones that were brand new and so seemed a little tight around her toes, and found herself wishing she’d chosen her Converses instead. This morning, part of her had kept fretting about choosing the right outfit, while another had told her to drop it and hurry out the door, because since when had she cared about clothes, anyway?

 _Way to go, Mare Barrow,_ she chided herself. _You’ll make a great first impression._

Tentatively, she took the steps up towards the school building. The moment she stepped in, the universal tune she recognised as the late bell rang, and inwardly she groaned.

\--

Somehow, Mare managed to make her way to the reception’s office all in one piece. A woman with a severe grey bun sat at the desk, typing away on her computer, barely acknowledging her presence as she entered. The name card on the desk said: _Bess Blonos._

When she stood at the desk, she looked up after a brief while of tapping at her keyboard. She blinked at her, and kept blinking.

“Hi, I’m Mare Barrow,” Mare said after a moment of awkward silence. “I’m new here.”

“Ah, yes, okay,” The receptionist said after a moment, shifting away multiple papers on her desk. She stood and gave her a small frown. “Please wait for a moment as I collect your student ID card and time schedule. In the meantime, welcome to Summerton Academy, Ms. Barrow.”

“Thank you,” Mare muttered as she waved her away towards the couch area. She took a seat on one of them, taking in her surroundings as she waited. A framed piece of artwork showcasing how _S.T.A. is a family!_ covered the entirety of one wall, while the space in front of the other was taken up by a large glass case displaying trophies and plaques alike. _S.T.A. Swim Team,_ they read. _Football team. Soccer Team. First place, second place, third place._

Soon, something else caught her attention — a book, sitting idly on the glass table in front of her. Mare leaned to pick it up. _Summerton Academy - Yearbook (2014 - 2015)_ was written across the cover in bold silver lettering, and below it was what she presumed to be their mascot, a round-bellied king with a silver crown atop his head. His pudgy, smiling face took up a great deal of the remaining space.

Shrugging, Mare flipped to the _Juniors_ section. It wouldn’t hurt to at least get a glimpse of what she would be expecting for the rest of this year, would it? She paused to inspect the collage of photos that served as the background of the page that marked the beginning of the year band section.

Mare scanned through the images — students, enjoying themselves at school parties, dances, sports days, swimming galas; the lot. One particular photo caught her eye, for it was among one of the biggest in the collage. There were two boys in the picture; one of them raven-haired with eyes that glinted bronze, his face ruggedly attractive. He had one sculpted bicep thrown around the other’s shoulders, whose own mussed hair shone silver. Mare couldn’t help but wonder how much hair dye it had cost him to get it like that.

They were both clad in red soccer jerseys, their triumphant white grins announcing to the world: _we definitely won this match._

She flipped to the next page. Her eyes had barely glimpsed the title saying “You Will Be Remembered, Mareena”, before the receptionist walked back into the room with a pile of books in hand. Mare closed the yearbook and set it back onto the table in the instant Bess Blonos eyed her, and stood from the couch.

“Your schedule and ID card, Ms. Barrow,” She said, placing the items onto her desk before returning to her seat. “Homeroom is over, so your first destination will be the eighth floor.”

Mare said her thanks, collected the items, and turned to leave. Since she didn’t exactly want to knock on the door to the classroom while the lesson was in progress, she began taking hurried steps out the office, head discreetly facing downwards. Before she knew it, she had collided headfirst into a wall.

Soon, she realised that the wall was, in fact, someone’s chest.

Her eyes snapped up. She blinked, staring up into a pair of bronze eyes. With a jolt, she took a step back and realised she _recognised_ this face — she had seen it only a few moments before, in the photo in the yearbook collage.

“Whoa,” Soccer Jersey Guy said. His hands had somehow found their way up her shoulders, holding her back at arm’s length. He seemed to be studying her as much as she was with him. Mare sized him up — tall, broad-shouldered, the same smile-lined soccer player she had seen in the photo. Except now he wasn’t wearing a jersey. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” She said after a short moment, flustered. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going — Are _you_ okay?"

She doubted he would be hurt, considering the fact that his chest had felt like it had been built out of steel. But he didn’t respond, and was instead frowning at her. His amber-brown eyes were fixed on her, roaming, searching her face.

“I — Well... I’m glad we’ve exchanged pleasantries,” She cocked an eyebrow at him as his hands remained on her shoulders and as his eyes continued to stare intently at her, even after a few strange moments. “I’ve gotta get to class now, though, so…”

Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone in a second. After that, he startled, gave a small shake of his head, and released her. “Right, right. Of course.”

“Um, I’m really sorry about that, again,” Mare gave him a tight smile as she stepped around him. _That was awkward._

“Don’t worry about it,” Soccer Jersey Guy murmured, sounding quite like he was in some sort of daze. As she left the office, she heard him mumble something under his breath that vaguely sounded like _“what the hell was that?”_

Her cheeks heated as she took one of the staircases, taking the steps by twos and threes. _See, great first impression. I’m probably never gonna make any friends here._

\--

Thankfully, she was not late for the next lesson. The history classroom was located at the very end of the corridor, and after having spent a few moments near the door, lingering and hesitating, Mare lifted her chin and entered.

Barely anybody spared her a passing glance. She made a beeline towards an empty desk by the window, and before she could place her bag on the chair, somebody beside it extended their hand and rapped on the table. “Nuh-uh, seat’s taken.”

Grinding her teeth together, she turned and went towards one of the seats at the back of the classroom. Setting her bag down, she sat to collect herself. When she lifted her head, she noticed that multiple people had taken note of her, and were whispering.

Mare sighed. _Nothing to see here. Just another awkward new kid, content to stay in the shadows._

She looked down, blotting out the sounds of her fellow schoolmates in conversation, busying herself with her schedule. Once she had finished reading it, the room was notably fuller. She looked back up towards her new classmates, and realised that some of them seemed to be gawking at her.

“What _fresh hell_ is this?” A sharp female voice broke through her thoughts. Promptly, Mare located its owner — a girl with sleek silver hair, tied in a complicated braid she knew she would never in a hundred years be able to replicate with her own unruly tresses. She was staring at her from across the classroom, dark eyes wide and incredulous. Her friend was ceaselessly tapping on her shoulder, trying to get hold of her attention, but the girl simply ignored her and continued to stare and stare at Mare.

Mare frowned, bemused, not knowing what to make of this. _Have these people never seen a new student, ever?_

_Also — "fresh hell"?_

“Language, Ms. Samos,” Somebody else interrupted. This time, the voice belonged to the teacher, a wrinkle-faced man with graying hair and a parchment-colored shirt. He balanced a pile of books in his arms as he moved, and the ones at the top of the stack wobbled precariously as he walked across the front of the classroom.

The girl huffed, and flashed her another glare before whipping around to face her friend. “Yes?” Mare heard her demand icily. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Her attention returned to the teacher. According to her schedule, this was Mr. Julian Jacos setting his books on his desk. His eyes lifted and sought hers, and even as he offered her a friendly Welcome-to-Summerton-Academy smile, she didn’t miss the confusion that flashed through his eyes.

“Class,” He boomed once his eyes left hers to regard his students. “We have a new student joining us today.”

Mare swallowed as all eyes zeroed on her. “Hi,” She said stupidly, and mentally hit herself for that.

Mr. Jacos smiled warmly at her, and extended a hand towards where she was sitting. “Could you come on up, so we can properly introduce you?”

“Okay,” Mare mumbled, and pushed away from her desk. She shuffled past the students, who watched her, and took the place beside Mr. Jacos. The students in the front row blinked, frowned, rubbing their eyes, all while the Ms. Samos shot daggers at her. Her eyes looked like dark pits, searing holes right through her forehead.

 _This is not going well._ Internally, Mare pleaded that Mr. Jacos would not instruct her to “tell us something about yourself” or anything along those lines. These people seemed as approachable as wasps who’d just discovered an ant in the nest they'd built.

“This is Mare Barrow, everyone,” Mr. Jacos said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “She came —”

In the instant, the door burst open. Mare looked to the door, and found Soccer Jersey Guy #1 staring back at her with an equally bewildered expression on his face. _Oh, great, he’s in my class._

“Cal,” The silver-haired girl perked up, a corner of her mouth tilting lazily to reveal brilliant white teeth.

 _Ah, so that’s his name._ Cal only lifted his hand to give the girl a limp wave, and slowly, as if he didn’t know what to expect, took a few steps in her direction. Mr. Jacos was watching him, most likely waiting for an explanation.

“Mr. Calore,” He said, though his tone indicated anything but irritation, “I do not tolerate tardiness in my classroom.”

_So his name is Cal Calore. Makes total sense._

“Sorry,” He smiled, the strange, stiff demeanour slipping. “I had to go see the Principal and forgot to tell you.” Mr. Jacos nodded dismissively in response.

The confusion settled back onto his features as his eyes darted back to Mare, but again like she’d seen it earlier, he gave a tiny shake of his head before turning away to take his seat. She didn’t miss the way the girls’ eyes trailed after him as he nodded at his friends, and she could tell why none of them dared to beam at him. The silver-haired girl blinked up at him, lashes fluttering, a stark contrast to how hostile she had been to Mare mere moments ago. She brushed her fingertips with his hand as he passed and he wiggled his own in return, almost half-heartedly. Mare watched as he moved to sit at the only remaining desk — the seat beside the window, the one she had been told was taken earlier.

Something vaguely like annoyance pricked in Mare’s stomach.

“Hey, man,” the guy who had told her to leave lifted his hand for a fist-bump as Cal sat, and he returned it.

“As I was saying,” Julian began, “This is Mare Barrow, your new classmate, and she’s come all the way from the Stilts.”

She doubted any of them had even heard of the Stilts, anyway. But this time, they weren’t paying her any attention. They seemed to be all watching Cal, whose reaction did not disappoint. He blanched, freezing on the spot at the sound of her name.

“Mare, like M-A-R-E?” Someone at the front row inquired, confused. Some exchanged glances.

“Uh-huh, that’s how my name’s spelled,” Mare confirmed before Mr. Jacos could answer for her. Before she could think it through, she blurted, “Um, can someone tell me what is going on?”

The whispering and sidelong glances only increased. Out of the corner of her eye, Mare saw someone prod on Cal’s shoulder. However, just as Mare was about to storm back towards her seat, a dark-haired boy near the back of the classroom spoke up.

“You look like somebody we used to know,” He said in a soft, yet firm voice, morning blue eyes roaming over her in a way that was sad, as if he was searching for something and was on the desperate verge of giving up. They never left her face, and soon Mare wondered if she could bear to watch him stare for any longer. “And her name was Mareena.”

_Mareena?_

Mareena, from the yearbook — the headline of the page she’d hadn’t had the time to read through. _You will be remembered, Mareena,_ flashed through her mind.

“Well,” She said uncertainly, her gaze absentmindedly shifting to Cal as everyone else seemed to be watching him, “That’s — Coincidences happen.”

“Coincidences,” She heard him mutter darkly under his breath, bronze eyes pained. His hands were clenching and unclenching, balling themselves into fists. Silver girl stood up and strode over to him, but not before shooting Mare a look. She slung an arm around Cal and began crooning into his ear. Mare glanced away.

“Alright. We all know that being the new kid can be difficult, so I would like everyone to take care of Mare in here, okay?” Mr. Jacos said uncomfortably. “Thank you, Ms. Barrow,” He dismissed, and then began to move towards the pair with the intention to disentangle the girl from Cal’s shoulders. Mare smiled tightly at Mr. Jacos, nodded at him once, and eased back towards her desk.

_This got a lot weirder than I thought it would._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a review! it would mean the world to me x


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone! i didn't expect to get such a great response on the previous chapter, so that was a rly nice surprise for me! thank u guys so much for taking the time to leave a kudos/comment. so yeah, here's chapter 2 for u a day later (i already have like 10 chapters of this story written out ahh) and i hope u enjoy reading it as much as i did writing it!
> 
> p.s. try to spot the glass sword reference :')

The bell rang, signifying the end of first period. Since she had enrolled in Summerton Academy in the middle of September, their curricular units were already in progress. She had barely kept up during history —  her class was right in the middle of completing some research project on Nortan kings and queens, all who had lived and died many centuries ago.

Mare stood, sighing. Subsequently, she decided she had better things to worry about when she began to feel the weight of countless pairs of eyes on her.  _ Stop it, please,  _ she willed silently.  _ This isn’t how I planned for it to go. Why do I have to be the one who bears some sort of resemblance to a dead girl? _

Hastily, she moved towards the door. Students streamed down the corridor, pushing past her, and inwardly she cursed her height. She stood at a mere 5’1, and so even her younger sister Gisa, of age 12, was taller than her.  _ Had Mareena been as short? _

“Hey,” A voice said at her ear. Mare turned, looking up to see the dark-haired boy who had spoken to her earlier in history. He was a good head taller than her.

“Hi,” She responded, slightly startled.

“Do you have — Do you need someone to show you around?” He inquired hesitantly, a hand adjusting the Beats slung around his neck. At closer inspection, Mare noticed that they were limited edition. _Rich._ “Um, I just noticed that you didn’t seem to have anybody to take you to your classes, so… yeah. If you need somebody, I mean. Don’t get me wrong.”

“Oh —” Mare began as he trailed off, about to tell him that  _ it’s okay, you don’t have to, I can figure it out myself, _ but then came to the realisation that this place would seem less alien if she had somebody to accompany her. In fact, she would be really grateful if she had somebody to talk to while she was here. “That would be great, actually,” She finished, smiling. “Especially since it’s gonna take me quite a while getting used to the sheer size of this school.”

“I can understand,” He returned a watery smile of his own, sticking his hands into the pockets of his black hoodie. “My first day here, I thought the elevators were janitors’ closets. I loved hiding in them back in my kindergarten, and there were no elevators in that tiny building then. I was six years old, so… let’s just say I was very confused when the 'closet' I was supposedly hiding in  _ moved up _and released me into another dimension when the doors opened." 

“Let me guess,” Mare chuckled, amused. “You panicked and got lost.”

“I was screaming for my mom,” He responded, rolling his eyes. “I remember having a whole entourage guiding me back to my classroom. Most important I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“Poor kid,” She laughed. “My name’s Mare.”

A second after, she realised that he already knew. She’d announced it back in the history classroom in front of him. And apparently reminding him of it hadn’t been a good idea, because she saw his entire body deflate like a balloon. Again came his searching blue eyes and the sad glimmer in them; they met hers for a fraction of a second before darting away promptly. 

“My name’s Maven,” He dipped his head, speaking in a quieter tone of voice.

“Hey, Maven,” Mare nodded, averting her eyes from him. She was about to open her mouth and ask Maven about this Mareena, if he had known her or anything of that sort, but before she had the chance to he had inquired her about the whereabouts of her next class.

“Um, English,” She responded, fishing out her schedule from her bag. “Tenth floor, with Ms. Walsh.”

“Oh, you’re good,” He said casually. “You’ll enjoy Ms. Walsh. She makes a lot of bad puns and probably won’t take you seriously unless you’re talking about pastoral sixteenth century poetry.”

Mare pretended to know what  _ pastoral  _ meant. She made a face. “Bad puns?”

“Make sure you laugh.” He said, leaning down as if he was telling her a secret. 

“And what if I don’t?” Mare inquired.

“She’ll actually take you seriously,” He replied in turn, offering a light-lipped smile. However, It didn’t seem as sincere as the one he’d given her previously.

She couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Fair enough.”

Maven led her towards one of the staircases, up towards the tenth floor. He had biology, and conveniently he would be in the lab that was situated next to her English classroom. All in all, the trip up two floors had taken only three minutes, but it had seemed to last longer with so many more people startling at the sight of her. Self-conscious, Mare found herself shielding her face with her curtain of brown hair. 

After having thanked Maven for directing her where she was supposed to go, she turned to walk towards the classroom by herself. Because of the kids who were already watching, she could tell that this was going to be a very long morning.

\--

Mare decided she would sit with Maven, if he was available, during lunch. Some part of her was grateful that she wasn’t about to be the new kid that ate their lunch in a phone booth or bathroom stall or some other obscure part of the campus, while the other wished it was going to be that way instead. She didn’t want any more laser beams fixated on her forehead, but at the same time she didn’t want to be alone.

Also, she wanted to find out more about this entire Mareena ordeal.

The cafeteria was huge and had a  _ deli bar,  _ for god’s sake. Mare piled crouton upon crouton on her salad container, paid, and walked away as quickly as she could. After a brisk moment of searching, she spotted him. Maven had opted to sit by himself, picking at a meal at a table at the opposite end of the cafeteria. She found herself glad that it was somewhere far from the center.

“Hey,” She began, approaching his table a little uncertainly, since she still wasn’t sure if he wanted her to sit with him. He didn’t strike her as the type that had a lot of friends or immensely enjoyed company, but he  _ had  _ offered to show her around, hadn't he? “Do you mind if I sit here with you?”

Maven looked up from his lunch. She didn’t miss the way his watery blue eyes widened, in shock or some other emotion, even though it had been only for a half of a second. She waited for a response, and didn’t receive anything for a good few moments.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, a sinking feeling already taking place in her stomach, and was about to turn away when he interrupted.

“No — no, of course you can sit with me,” A lopsided smile lifted his lips as she turned, and she noticed a dimple in his right cheek. “I don’t bite.”

Mare placed her salad on the table before tentatively settling into the seat beside his. 

“Sorry about that,” Maven said hastily. “I — I haven’t gotten used to this yet. Seeing you there and everything, I mean, you…” He trailed off.

Inwardly, she mused to herself,  _ that’s what I’m going to be hearing from everyone else for the rest of this year. _

“So,” She said, breaking the brief silence as she picked at her lunch, “Mareena Titanos.” English class had been alright, and so had the classes that followed, but the accompanying stares and whispers from her classmates had done nothing to assuage her building frustration at having a limited understanding of whatever it was she had been caught up in. Because of this, he had found herself trying to focus more and more on the teacher’s voice and picking up on whatever it was that was on their syllabus instead of paying them any attention. However, it hadn’t exactly worked. 

Maven exhaled. “Yeah.”

“Well, since this is probably going to affect all my, um, social experiences for the rest of this year, I would prefer to know everything about this whole situation,” Mare continued, words spilling quickly from her mouth all of a sudden. 

“Mhm,” Maven nodded, listening.

“I was thinking… If I’m going to be tangled in this — this web, then I could at the very least know things about the — spider that spun it.”

He paused. Turning away from her, he looked down at his untouched lunch before lifting his plastic fork. At closer inspection, Mare realised he was chuckling. 

“Okay, yikes, sorry. That was lame.”

“That was very poetic,” He remarked, still smiling.

She cringed. “Could you please enlighten me on the subject?” 

“Okay,” Maven said slowly. “Mareena. Mareena Titanos. She was a student here, obviously. She died a few months back because of a — of a car crash. We — She was dead. It happened so quickly.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers, and in them she saw the sadness once more. Although this time it was laced with other feelings — wistfulness? Longing? Affection? Whatever it was, it was something so raw and so undiluted, and she knew the day that it would fade from his eyes was the day the memory of her left him.

Which, judging by the way he acted, probably wouldn’t be in the near future.

“You knew her,” She stated. It wasn’t really a question.

“Yeah,” He said in a small voice. His eyes were glassy, his shoulders were slumped, and Mare could tell that this conversation was really weighing him down. “I did. All of us did. None of us were — were prepared then.”

“I’m sorry,” Mare said gently. He looked like he was about to cry. “Were you… her friend?”

Another emotion flitted across his expression, but it was gone before she could place a finger on it. “Yes,” He murmured, barely audible. “I was.”

“Oh,” She said, her gaze somewhere on the floor. Some part of her wondered if she was allowed to reach out and touch him. “I’m… really sorry for your loss.”

“Mare,” Maven said suddenly. “Don’t worry about everyone, okay? It’s just that they haven’t… they haven’t seen Mareena in quite some time.”

“I’m not Mareena,” She said softly.

A muscle in his jaw twitched. After several moments, he smiled a small, rueful smile, and spoke, “Of course not. She was way taller than you.”

“Jeez, even you, who I’ve known for a grand total of four hours?” She sighed in exasperation. “I thought I’d escaped this. People were ruthless about it back at my old school.”

“Escaping a noose, just to find another,” He quipped, chuckling now.

“Well, that was _very_ _poetic,”_ She said dryly, mirroring his own previous words.

Maven’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, his face relaxing into a grin. “That,” He admitted, “I did not see coming.”

Mare found it easy to smile afterwards, even as they lapsed into brief silence. However, as she returned to her lunch, so did the staring and whispering. She couldn’t stop herself from looking up and surveying the cafeteria as she chewed on her cherry tomatoes, and her attention fell on something unfortunate: silver girl, and Cal.

_ Cal.  _ She hadn’t thought of him at all.

The Samos girl was glaring at Mare from her table in the center of her cafeteria, her focus on her impenetrable. Beside her sat Cal, his stance stiff, shoving forkful after forkful of spaghetti into his mouth as if his life depended on it. Clearly, everyone else who sat on their table, and everyone else in this hall was aware of her arrival, evident from the way jaws dropped and incredulous glances were sent sidelong. Somehow, only now she became aware that at probably at least a third of the school population had seen, and maybe even heard her exchange with Maven.

“So,” Mare sighed. “I really do look like her, huh.”

“Yeah,” Maven muttered. “Hold on, I can show you.”

Soon he had his phone whipped out. He accessed Facebook, pulling up Mareena Titanos’ profile. He tapped on her profile picture, and the face that subsequently filled the screen on his phone was her —  _ her  _ face.

The girl in the photo looked everything like her. Mareena Titanos had the same brown skin, triangular nose, and almond-shaped eyes. Her face was small and shaped like a heart, just like hers, and her hair fell in long, chocolate-colored waves that shielded the side portion of her profile. Her lips, coated in a sheen of gloss, were spread across her teeth in a wide, white-toothed smile. 

“I guess you really have to see it to believe it, huh,” Mare murmured absentmindedly. She knew she had the sort of face that could be described as somewhat  _ common,  _ if that made sense, but this was on a whole new level. She even found herself checking to see if Mareena wore her three studded earrings, just to confirm that it truly wasn’t her but Mareena who smiled in the photo. 

“You really do,” He responded quietly. His gaze was fixated on the photo, as if drinking in the sight of her for as long as it was worth. She did the same, despite her own dark eyes reflecting back at herself on the screen. Only a second later, the screen blackened, and Maven slapped his phone down on the table with a pained expression on his features.

Mare found herself thinking of touching him again. This time, she did it. She placed a hand on his arm, and it seemed to still under her touch.

“I’m sorry, Maven,” Mare repeated. From what she could tell, Mareena had been important to him. “I really, truly am.”

“Thank you,” He bit his lip. “It’s okay. I should be the one who’s sorry — It’s not fair for you to have to deal with this at all.”

“Don’t say that,” Mare murmured, her focus elsewhere. She noticed that everyone else sitting on the table with Cal and his girlfriend had noticed their agitated manner, because now they were either speaking to them in hushed whispers or watching her. When she glimpsed another flash of silver hair opposite Cal’s girlfriend, she registered that it belonged to Soccer Jersey Guy #2.  _ Cal’s friends love their silver hair dye, don’t they? _

“What even is the deal with them, anyway?” She found herself asking Maven.

He shifted his gaze and followed her line of sight. Almost immediately he turned away, the expression on his features almost self-mocking. “Oh, them. I forgot to mention them.”

“Yeah?”

“Cal’s dated Mareena,” Maven said, his tone conflicted. He looked down, twiddling his fingers. “Evangeline, well… She’s his current girlfriend, and a rather… protective one at that, so let’s just say she isn’t happy with you appearing all suddenly and everything.” 

“Ah, that explains,” Mare murmured, her gaze on the silver-haired girl.  _ Evangeline. What a fitting name.  _ “I’m guessing they weren’t exactly on good terms, then.”

“To put it lightly,” Another smile twitched around his lips. “Yes.”

“Well, okay,” Mare raised her hands slightly, palms facing outwards as if in defense. “This sucks, because I didn’t sign up to get caught up in between all their personal issues.”

Maven chuckled to himself at that, muttering something under his breath.

“What?”

“Some first day, huh?” He grinned, glancing quickly at her sidelong. 

Mare shook her head, blowing out her cheeks in an exaggerated gesture. “You have no idea.”

“I’ll try my best to put myself in your shoes,” He teased.

“Don’t. I’m wearing my really uncomfortable new Nikes today.” She shifted her legs from beneath the table, wiggling her toes in her suffocating purple trainers for emphasis.

They laughed together, despite the unwanted attention that they received in turn. At some point near the end of lunch, after having moved onto several easier topics of discussion, Mare realised that there was possibly a bigger chance that she would be able to make it out alive through this mess… if he bothered to stick around with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment! chapter 3 will involve cal and a motorcycle, so stay tuned ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u guys for the kudos and the comments! this chapter is a bit longer than what i usually have, so yeah, here's a treat for u guys!! as promised, cal and his motorcycle will both be making an appearance :')
> 
> special thanks to my beta reader clara! ily

As gruelling as they might have been for a new kid, the rest of Mare’s classes eventually all passed. She hurried down the hallway at the end of the day, beelining for the exit, trying to avoid attracting any more attention.

However, it seemed that god had other plans for her.

“Looks like you’re not as dead as everyone else thought you were, are you, Mareena?” A slender girl with choppy blonde hair laughed as she fell into step beside Mare.

“My name’s not Mareena, it’s  _Mare,”_  she snapped, momentarily losing her temper. Mare skidded to a halt in the middle of the corridor and turned to face the girl. Some people stopped, curious. “I’m making it clear right this second that I’m my own person. I didn’t rise from the dead or anything, if that’s what you people are thinking. I’m really sorry about her death, but I didn’t ask for this.”

“Whoa,” the girl blinked, stunned for a second. “You’re all bite, aren’t you? Chill, I didn’t mean it that way. Everybody’s been talking about you, and I just wanted to see for myself.”

“Okay, well, now you’ve seen me,” Mare muttered, the fire leaving her system for a moment. She felt only exhaustion as she resumed her path down the hallway. “I'm sorry for blowing up in your face, but could you please just leave me alone?”

“Alright, alright. I apologise.” The girl followed close behind, lips spreading into an aggravatingly toothy grin. Mare noticed that she was quite pretty, even though the thick, dark makeup surrounding her eyes made her think of a raccoon. “You don’t even look like a walking corpse, anyway. I’m disappointed.”

Despite herself, Mare snorted. “Funny, that’s contrary to popular belief. I feel half-dead all the time inside, anyway. I'm glad it doesn't show.”

“Me too,” the girl laughed loudly. “But as long as Mareena Titanos lives in people’s hearts, that would be extremely inconvenient more so for you than for me.”

“Glad I’m alive to hear it,” Mare responded, sarcasm coating her words.

"Alright," the blonde smirked, sticking her hand out. “You can call me Farley.”

“I’m Mareena Titanos the second,” Mare replied, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake. “Just kidding. Mare Barrow, and only Mare Barrow.”

“Got it.” Her blue eyes sparkled mischievously. Something told Mare that she hadn’t.

“Thanks for being the only one who came up to me to speak openly about this rather than whispering about it to other people, by the way,” Mare said to her. “It’s really refreshing to know that some people in this school understand basic human communication.”

“Mareena Titanos might as well have been the princess of Summerton, and her presence lingers everywhere. Nobody knows what to make of you, a living, breathing replica of her, showing up four months after her death.” Farley rolled her eyes. “Not that I don’t enjoy seeing Evangeline Samos getting her panties in a twist. How silly it is that she doesn’t even like Cal Calore, anyway.”

“Sorry, but what?" Mare canted her head, perplexed.

Farley shrugged lazily. “Since she’s neither stupid nor straight, I can tell that she’s there for the money.”

 _'Nor straight'._ Mare’s eyebrows lifted in pleasant surprise. “...Cool.”

She laughed. “Best to keep away from the Calores and the Samoses, Mare Barrow. All the drama that goes between them will eat you alive.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Mare said, unnerved. “One last thing. So, Mareena died in a… car crash?”

“Yeah, she did,” Farley responded. There seemed to be a knowing edge in her voice. “But that’s all they'll tell you, if you ask them.”

“Okay,” she said slowly.

“Alright, then. I’ll see you, Mare Mareena-Titanos-the-second Barrow,” Farley winked, turning on her heel. “I’ve gotta get to my locker now. ‘Twas a pleasure.” Her long legs speedily took off before Mare could even say her goodbyes.

She frowned after Farley. Shrugging, she began to go in the opposite direction. However, as she continued to make her way down the corridors and winding staircases towards the ground floor, she realised something and stopped in her tracks.  

_I don’t have a ride home._

Her mind relayed back to the conversation she’d had with Shade this morning: he’d told her that he wouldn’t be back to pick her up, and she would have to call their mother during the day if she wanted a ride back home. If not, she would have to find her way home by herself.

_Way to go, Mare Barrow. Of all the days you could have been stupid, you chose today._

The first problem was that she’d forgotten to call her mother, who was currently doing business on the other side of the city. The second; she had no idea how to get home from Summerton. She didn’t know precisely where it was located on a map of the city, but she knew that it was definitely nowhere near the suburbs.

Mare began walking again. Once she left the school, she found somewhere nearby to lounge in. Leaning on a pillar, she slipped her phone from her pocket and made a call to her mother.

“Mom,” Mare greeted when she picked up. “Sorry, but can you pick me up from school? I forgot to tell you and I’m kind of stuck here right now, so…”

Her mother sighed from the other end of the phone.  _“No worries. Next time, remind yourself to tell Shade. I’m having a long day at work, so I’ll be there in say… 15 minutes?”_

“Alright, thanks mom,” She responded, grateful. “Have fun with your clients.” After she hung up, she settled back against the pillar to wait, occasionally sparing a glance at the driveway for her mother’s car. Other than that, she pretended to be preoccupied with her phone as students bustled past.

Five minutes passed; ten. When she hit the thirty-minute mark, she looked up to survey the almost-empty school grounds. A few motorcycles dawdled off to the side, waiting on their forthcoming owners. Off the corner somewhere was the school pitch, the basketball team present and engaged in a match. Their victorious shouts and occasional swearing resonated off the walls.

Mare swallowed a sigh, checking her phone again. Her mother hadn’t called, probably in the middle of her never-ending stack of papers. At this point she had began to contemplate whether or not it would be feasible to walk home by foot, despite the fact that she didn’t even know the general direction to start walking in.

“‘Sup,” someone uttered into her ear, breaking her train of thought. She whipped around, almost bumping into the person. The person turned out to be Cal Calore, the same one who she had collided into this morning; the same one who had dated her supposed doppelganger before she had died.

“Sorry,” she squeaked, taking a startled step back. “That was not a good moment.”

“I apologise.” His brown-gold eyes were dark as they raked her over, and his expression was equivocal even when he offered her a hesitant smile. “I seem to have a tendency to catch you off guard.”

Mare laughed weakly. “Well, I seem to have a tendency to do that. Ram into your chest, I mean.”

Cal gave a small chuckle, and drily she clarified, “I don’t do it on purpose, though.”

“Hm,” he mused. “What did I expect?”

Mare took him in. He was looking down at his shoes, his expression undecipherable, unable to meet her eyes. He looked like he was regretting saying hello to her, and she didn’t blame him. Ultimately, she wondered whether or not it was a good idea to converse with him at all, with all the revelations that had been told to her today.

Also, she was half-expecting Evangeline or some other member of his squadron to appear instantly by his side. She had no desire to face the Samos girl's steel-fingered wrath.

“Are you waiting for anyone?” he mumbled just as she was about to excuse herself from the scene.

“Uh, supposedly,” she said hastily, switching her phone on. It read  _4:03._  “I don’t know. My mom was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago, but that didn’t happen, so...”

“That sucks,” Cal said. “It’s been thirty minutes since school finished.”

“Don’t remind me,” she muttered in response. “To be honest, I have no idea how I’ve made it this far.”

“You’re a true survivor,” he joked lightly, and Mare shook her head promptly at that. Shifting on his feet, he spoke with some hesitance, “Well, I was just about to leave, so maybe you could come with me and I’ll drop you off at your house.”

Mare had expected the conversation to end with  _alright, good luck with waiting, see you sometime later,_ so momentarily she was unsure of how to respond to that. What eventually came out of her mouth was: “Come with you?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, jerking a thumb at the row of motorcycles parked along the driveway. “I can ride you, if your mom’s not going to be arriving for another while. I mean - you - of course you don’t have to, if you’re uncomfortable with -”

“That sounded weird,” Mare blurted before she knew better, and her face heated when Cal thought his words over. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly, smirking a little when she saw his mock-accusatory expression, “I had to.”

“Oh, well, whoops,” he said, smiling lopsidedly. “I did  _not_ mean it that way. Let me rephrase that: you can ride home with me, if you want.”

“What, on your motorcycle?” she shot a glance towards the row of death-trap vehicles. “A very daring mode of transport, isn’t it?”

He smiled crookedly. “Don’t worry. I’m licensed, and I know my way around Archeon.” At the look she shot him, he added, “And I’m not an axe murderer, either.”

“That’s very reassuring,” Mare said first of all, “but thank you, I really appreciate the offer.” Even though she was sincere in her thanks, she remained undecided — she didn’t know where her mom was, and chances were, she was on her way this very moment. In addition to that, she was considering the fact that he was a half-stranger who had a dead ex-girlfriend who had supposedly been her lookalike, and a current girlfriend, now indignant and hot on her heels. “But are you sure I won’t — like, I don’t want to bother you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he responded in turn. “I don’t ride it enough, so this calls for a good opportunity. Unless you live near me.”

“I’ve… never ridden a motorcycle before,” Mare said, again shooting a glance towards the two-wheeled contraptions. The small, curious part of her that had always wondered about and perhaps even longed for the sensation of flying through city streets, unconquerable at 300 miles an hour, called out to her — she swallowed, eyes darting back and forth, uncertain.

“Well, that can certainly be changed.” His lips were twitching. “While your mother’s schedule cannot. Come on.”

“Demanding, are we?” Mare quipped in turn. “I’ll actually have to check with her, though.” When she switched her phone on, she saw that she had received a text from her mother not too long ago:  _I’m so sorry dear, I’m still in the office, I’ll get there as quickly as I can but in the meantime could you call one of your brothers?_

She sighed, swiping to send her mother a text that would tell her that she would no longer have to rush. Her mom responded instantly, telling her to be safe.

“My mom said sure, so looks like I’m in,” Mare murmured. When she looked up, Cal was already walking towards the motorcycles. He stopped in front of the bulkiest one among the selection — it was... vicious-looking, something she could only describe to be a cross between tacky and “badass”. It was massive, its fenders and gas tank a metallic black. Plastered all over the metal were decals of orange-red flames.  

“It looks like a death trap,” she said as she got closer. She stopped a measured distance away from the cycle, eyeing it warily.

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” he grinned wickedly, patting its engine. “But this is the Blackrun.” At that, he reached towards the motorcycle seat, flipped it open, and pulled out a helmet.

She scoffed. “I wouldn’t underestimate it.”

He nodded. “Precisely. What’s your address?”

Mare rattled off the location of her house, even though doubts were pressing at the back of her mind. She ignored them, for now. After all, he wasn’t any other half-stranger, was he?

“Good, I can do that.” At that, Cal shot a glance at her, the helmet dangling from his fingers. He seemed to notice how she was lingering back, because his next words were, “You really don’t have to if you don’t want to. But let me tell you, if you do, the next moments are probably going to be the best in your entire life.”

Mare scoffed, but she was smiling a little. “I don’t really have any other options. It’s a ride or die for me.” At that, Cal tossed his helmet at her, and she caught it despite the surprise it brought her.

“I’ve only got that, so I’ll be going without one today.”

“Thanks,” Mare looked down at the sleek black helmet in her hands. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He mounted the motorcycle and placed his hands on the handles, waiting patiently as Mare moved towards the cycle. She threw a leg over the seat and placed the helmet onto her head. As she secured the straps around her chin, she thought to herself,  _I really am going to do this now, aren’t I?_

She managed to position herself so that she was fairly comfortable, even though her heart was beating in anticipation. Her hands dangled, somewhat awkwardly, by her sides. Cal began to rev the engine, and as the motorcycle pulsed to life he turned to shoot her a glance. “Ready?”

“Yep,” Mare swallowed, managing a limp smile. “I can handle it.”

If he sensed her doubt, he didn’t show it. Instead, he chuckled lightly. “You could close your eyes and think of England, if you like.”

She drew back, frowning, yet amused. “That’s very out of context.”

He shook his head, laughing in response. “My apologies.” But as the motorcycle roared and gave one final boost, Mare closed her eyes and thought of home, back in the Stilts.

 --

They propelled down the road, a mile a minute. Everything they passed by was a blur, a myriad of colors — Mare wasn’t sure how she would describe the feeling that pooled in her stomach as she watched the glorious Nortan cityscape fly past, but as they stopped at a traffic light, she managed to catch her breath.

It was comparable to the moment when one of those amusement rides lifted you into the air and froze when you were right at the top, at the end of its giant metal arm, dangling off the edge of the sky. She had felt light but at the same time bigger than her body when she’d experienced it, invincible at top of the world, where she could see everything.

It definitely hadn’t been as bad as she’d expected.

Cal turned his head around to look at her. His dark hair was tousled, his eyes were squinty, but he was grinning. “Okay?”

“Well,” Mare shrugged a little, blowing air from her cheeks. “I mean, whew. This... This city. It's so different."

“Archeon does take a little time getting used to,” he chuckled. "Especially if you're from a small town."

“Do you do this often?” Mare inquired teasingly. “Take girls home on your — what's it called — Blackrun?”

“Every once in a while,” he responded casually, turning back towards the road before them. “I do it out of the pure goodness of my heart.”

“For girls with tendencies to ram into you whenever they see you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know, since you’re a first,” Cal extended the joke, lifting a hand from the motorcycle handle to swipe at his eye. “Got a bit of dirt in there.”

“Thanks again for the helmet, by the way,” Mare said, for it shielded her eyes perfectly.

“All good,” Cal replied. As the traffic light flickered from red, to yellow, to green, he reminded her, “Hold on!”

“I really didn’t wanna die!” she called out, laughing.

It didn’t occur to her that it had not been a good idea to say that to him until she felt his muscles tense beneath her arms. Before she had a chance to take it back, to alleviate the damage, he had already taken off down the road.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

“Cal!” she shouted over the honking cars and the blood that had again begun to pound in her ears. “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry! I — I have a tendency to say things without thinking them over!”

He gave a small, stiff nod. Mare kept her eyes on a spot at the back of his head as he continued to drive.

_Maybe he gives rides only to girls who look like his late girlfriend._

Ten minutes later, they stopped in front of the apartment building Mare lived in. Mare shook her hair from the bun she’d hastily scraped earlier on and stepped off of the cycle. “Again, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”

Cal stood and took the helmet from her. He swallowed, lips lifting into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “S’okay. Anytime.”

She wondered if it was best to mention what she had said earlier. No, it wasn’t. So she returned his smile with one of her own and said, “See you at school?”

He dipped his head. “Of course.”

She gave him a small wave and was about to turn and head back into the house when she heard him clear his throat. “Wait.”

Mare turned. “Yeah?”

“I saw you with my brother today,” he said, thumbs tucked in his jean pockets. When Mare looked closer, she noticed that his hands seemed to be trembling. “During lunch.”

“Your brother?” It took her a moment for her brain to register, to remind her that she most certainly had spent her lunch period with a boy. “Maven is your  _brother?”_

"Half-brother," he confirmed with a nod. "He didn't mention it."

"No, he didn't," Mare replied, thinking back to when Maven had talked about Cal and his friends like they didn't know him. She tried to connect the images she had of the two brothers in her head together, one a well-liked soccer player with a pit viper for a girlfriend and a hulking black motorcycle; the other one who was soft-spoken and constantly had headphones over his ears, a stranger to his brother and to the world. “Maven Calore,” she tested his name on her tongue. “I would never have guessed, to be honest.”

"We get that a lot," he said, his smile hesitant.

She raised an eyebrow. "Half-brothers, huh? Are the two of you the same age, then?"

"No," he shook his head. A crease formed between his eyebrows. "I'm eighteen, turning on nineteen. I began my education a year late because... a lot of disrupting things happened the first year I was born. My mother died suddenly, and lots of... adjustments had to be made."

"Oh," Mare said softly. "My condolences."  _Death's everywhere today, isn't it?_

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story," Cal continued. "My father thought it would be best that I enrolled in school alongside my brother, so... here I am." He looked up from the ground. "But enough about us. Do you have any siblings?"

“Yep. Four of them. Three elder brothers, one younger sister. They drive me nuts in the best way possible, really.” Mare tried to imagine what life would be like without Bree or Tramy there to bother her, or Shade and Gisa there to keep her sane all whilst they were at it. She couldn't. _I wonder if Mareena Titanos had any siblings._  

“It must get very lively in there, then,” Cal responded, shooting a glance towards her house. “I would probably go crazy. But I would be crazy delighted, considering the fact that my own sibling doesn’t talk to me.”

“Why?” she inquired, even though she could see it. This afternoon, Maven had spoken of him as though he was just another popular classmate who ignored his existence. They weren't close at all. Or maybe they had once been, but no longer were. “Do you talk to him, then?”

“No. I don’t know.” Cal shrugged. A shadow flitted across his features, and as he looked up to regard her, his eyes darkened. “I guess we’ll figure it out sooner or later.”

Her heart skipped a beat.  _Does it have something to do with Mareena?_

Cal took a step back towards his cycle, his face a storm cloud of emotions. “I'm sorry, I have to go now. I'll see you, Maree —” His jaw tightened as he cut himself off. “Mare. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She sighed. As she watched his motorcycle kick up a plume of dust, what Farley had said earlier about his family echoed in his mind.  _Mareena died in a car crash. That’s all they’ll tell you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cal promises he'll take u on a ride around archeon on his motorbike if u leave a comment telling us what u think. it'll rly, rly brighten my day and his :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smol chapter this time! i started this one from scratch so this chapter took a bit longer to update. i'm not sure but i think updates will start getting sparser over the next few weeks bc i'll be busy with school. once again, thank you very much for the kudos and comments that u guys leave behind :)

The mystery of Mareena Titanos was forgotten the moment Mare placed a foot into the Barrow residence. Bree and Tramy were oblivious to her presence as she entered, caught in an intense game of foosball in the center of their living room. Loud, obnoxious screamo music blasted from the radio, rattling the glass table it had been placed on.

“I’m placing my bet on Bree,” Mare muttered in their direction as she walked past, dumping her backpack onto the sofa as she went. Bree grunted in response. “Also, please turn the damn music down. You guys are gonna render the entire household deaf if this carries on.”

Bree tutted her, eyes never leaving the foosball table. Mare watched Tramy reluctantly stretch an arm out to adjust the volume dial. “There.”

“Thanks,” She nodded, walking into the kitchen. “I’m changing my bet.”

“Hey!” Bree called out indignantly, voice filtering in from the doorway. Mare grinned as she took a bite of the apple resting on the countertop.

Mare heard the thump of Gisa’s footfalls down the hallway a moment before she barrelled into the kitchen, wailing about how she needed help with her maths homework.

“I can do my best,” Mare set the apple down with a small sigh, acceding even though she knew she couldn’t do maths to save her life. It wasn’t that sixth grade algebra was too difficult for her; most of the time, she simply didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

All in all, helping with Gisa’s homework had taken her an hour and a half. No matter how hard she tried, her little sister could not remember and recite the formulae, flaking out whenever Mare decided to quiz her on them. In the end, she’d given up and made Gisa little flashcards to revise with, hoping that they would solve the problem at hand.

When she finally got the chance to retire away, the doorbell rang the moment she placed a foot into her own bedroom. She muffled a groan as she stepped back out into the hallway to greet her mother. However, the familiar sight of her mother, dressed smartly in business attire yet smelling sweetly of rose hand cream, prompted a smile across her features.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to pick you up,” Ruth Barrow said, tucking a tendril of her daughter’s unruly brown hair behind her ear. “The boss was being particularly difficult. I would’ve left much earlier if he’d given me the clients, but I had to finish up another stack of papers instead.”

“It’s fine, mom, stop apologising,” Mare reassured her.

“You did have the time of your life, didn’t you?” Her mom wiggled her eyebrows, setting her handbag down onto the living room table. “On a motorbike. With a boy.”

“Mom, no,” She rolled her eyes playfully. “It’s not like that. Don’t even start.”

“What’s this talk about a motorbike?” Bree interjected from the hallway, having overheard their conversation. “Also, Mare, I won the game. Pay up.”

“Nothing that concerns you,” Mare bit back. “Go get ten from my wallet.”

Bree _hmph_ ed and exited the scene, muttering about motorbikes and how he’d always wanted one.

“What a delightful way to end the day, though, cruising around on a rich kid's motorcycle.” Her mother winked. “How was it? What was the school like? Are the teachers any good? Your dad and I pored over the brochures for ages when we first got them. It was time for a change after all, wasn’t it, Mare? Did it overwhelm —”

“Mom,” Mare interrupted with a laugh. “You’re rambling again.”

“Oh, yes I am,” Her mother stopped short, giving her a sheepish grin. “Your mother gets too talkative when she’s overexcited.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, mom,” Mare shook her head in mock exasperation. “That I definitely know.”

“Sometimes, I get the feeling that Samos says he’s going to give me the clients but changes his mind out of spite,” Her mother muttered, settling into the couch. “He always ends up giving me the paperwork. Does my head in. Maybe he’s afraid I’ll out-chat his clients.”

Mare’s brain latched onto one word. _Samos._ “Samos?”

Her mom nodded solemnly, heaving a mild sigh. “The Big Boss-man. Our CEO.”

“Funny,” Mare remarked, a bemused frown on her features. “A classmate of mine has the same last name.” _And she has not taken a liking to me._

“Really, dear? That’s not a surprise. He has children, two that my colleagues know of.” It was her mother’s turn to furrow her eyebrows. “To be completely frank, I can’t imagine a man like Volo Samos as some kind of father figure. He’s very cold, very standoffish, and not exactly a pleasure to work for. Not that I’m ungrateful for the promotion, though.”

_Figures._

“Okay, right,” Mare said quickly. This new information was sudden and unexpected, and combined with everything that had already been told to her during the school day, she would need to time to process it all.

_Evangeline Samos is Cal’s girlfriend. Mareena Titanos was Cal’s ex-girlfriend. Evangeline Samos disliked Mareena Titanos. Mareena Titanos is dead. Mareena Titanos looked like me. Evangeline Samos dislikes me. Now, Evangeline Samos’ father might be my mom’s boss._

“How was this classmate of yours?”  

“Um…” Mare began. The fleeting relief of being in the warmth of her family’s presence was gone, replaced with thoughts she’d attempted to suppress of her new school and how everything was not progressing the way it should.  “She wasn’t very pleasant at all.”

“Things will get better, dear, I promise you that. When I was your age, I’d just moved from the Bay to your old school.” A dreamy smile dawned on her features, at that. “For days, all they could laugh about was my haircut. I had this terrible mullet. The only one who didn’t make fun of me, however, was your father.”

Mare snorted and facepalmed herself. “Mom. I’ve heard that story a hundred times.”

She laughed brightly. “It never hurts to revisit it. Cherish your years of high school, Mare, they were definitely the best I’ve had.”

“Yeah, back in the _seventies.”_

Her mother ignored her. “Take the chances that are given to you, I’ve never regretted anything more in my life now than neglecting them.”

“‘Aight.”

The impish smile her mother gave her was so filled with youthfulness that Mare could almost picture her beside her as a highschooler. “Tell me, then. How exactly was your day?”

“Weird” was the only thing Mare could say.

“Could you elaborate?”

Mare told her mother about everything that had happened at school; about Mareena’s recent death and how people believed that she was a reincarnation of her or whatnot. She didn’t forget to add in details of Maven and Cal, and finally, how Evangeline was entangled in the story.

When she finished, she noticed that her mother had stiffened. “Mareena Titanos? I’ve heard of the case. My colleagues were talking about it just the other day, but switched topics once Samos came into the office.”

“I’ll show you a photo of her,” Mare responded. She searched for her profile on Facebook and tapped onto her photo like Maven had during lunch. Mareena’s face filled the screen once more, and her mother leaned in for a clearer glimpse.

“You weren’t lying, dear,” Her mother frowned as she peered closer at the picture. “There _is_ an uncanny resemblance. Are you sure she didn’t steal this picture from your page or whatever it is that you kids have? Your profile?”

“I’m positive, mom,” Mare drawled.

“This is all very peculiar. I’ll ask the people from the office about it, shall I?” Ruth placed an arm around Mare’s shoulders. “That excludes my boss, don’t you worry. For now, ignore the people at school who seem to be looking for trouble.”

“Okay, mom,” She said in response. A wave of fatigue hit her, and she stood from the couch to return to her bedroom. Mare fell onto her desk chair with a thump, and gave herself a spin for good measure.

She opened up a tab on her computer, meaning to finish the absurd amount of chemistry homework that’d been assigned to her today. On her _first day._ Atrocious.

She typed in the chemical name of a compound, and was about to hit _enter_ before pausing. Changing her course, she opened up a new tab and typed the word “Calore” into the search bar. She cringed when twenty nine million search results popped up. Subsequently, she narrowed the results down by typing in _Archeon, Norta_ behind the Calore name.

The official website of a company named “Calore Enterprises Inc.” was filtered to the top of the search page. She clicked into the link, eyes skimming across the description on the homepage: _Calore Enterprises Inc. is a global leader in eco-manufacturing, communications technologies..._

After a moment of effortless searching, Mare learnt that the company’s headquarters were based in Archeon and that the current CEOs were a man named Tiberias Calore VI and his wife, Elara Merandus. At first, search results showed only images of the bearded, imposing man and his regal-looking wife. Her hair was moon-blonde and pulled back tight into a bun, and her pale blue eyes held an imperious quality to them.

As she scrolled down, images of their family revealed that they had two sons, both of which Mare knew and who went by the names of Tiberias “Cal” VII and Maven.

_Of course. Why am I not surprised?_

Idly, she scrolled down the page of search results, through the endless images of the Calore family attending banquets; shaking hands; gesturing towards projected images of bar graphs. She stopped at a photo of the three of the men; Maven, Cal, and their father, standing side by side, dressed smartly in suits at some kind of event. Here she was able to pinpoint the striking resemblance they shared, all three of them bearing sweeping cheekbones, elegant, straight noses and black hair; the king and princes of Archeon. She no longer found it surprising that the two of them were brothers.

 _He seems different at school,_ Mare mused to herself. Cal seemed to be his usual confident self, but Maven was a wholly different matter ‒ He stood with his spine straight, curling dark hair teased away from his forehead in a dignified style. His blue eyes were glinting straight into the camera, and a polished smile graced his features. Mare could detect no hint of much of the quiet persona she’d become acquainted with from the past day showing through the photo. In short, he looked every inch the proud, rich boy that he undoubtedly was.

 _You don't even know them, Mare,_ she reminded herself. _You've met them for a couple hours._

Nobody had given the slightest indication that the two Calore brothers had parents who were Nortan CEO billionaires. _After all, I do go to a private school now,_ Mare thought. _It’s probably nothing out of the ordinary._

She scrolled even further down the page, stopping when her eyes caught sight of Cal and Maven donning straw hats against a background of rolling green fields. Maven was crouching, stroking the woolly head of a sheep, while Cal smiled into the camera with a rake slung over his shoulder. A grinning, dark-skinned farmer stood to the side, overseeing the scenario.

She read the caption of the photo ‒ “The younger Calores join their CEO parents on an expedition to the hills in Yemen, their focus on next-generation farming solutions.”

 _So I guess this is what Maven meant by ‘pastoral sixteenth century poetry’,_ Mare thought to herself, amused. A corner of her mouth quirked up. _I’ll sure make Ms. Walsh proud._

She clicked the photo away and scrolled even further down. Another image caught her attention ‒ an image of Tiberias Calore VI, shaking hands with a hard-faced, silver-haired man in a dark coat. Mare exhaled, knowing with certainty that this was Evangeline's father the moment she saw the silver hair.

The two men seemed to be facing away from each other in the subtlest sense, their smiles uncertain and the clasp of their hands stiffly unnatural.

The caption of the photo disclosed that the silver-haired man was indeed Volo Samos, the CEO of her mother’s company, and that he was “shaking hands with the head of his rival company of many years in an unlikely occurrence” as tensions amongst the two were “running unusually high”.

_Oh, no._ Farley's voice echoed in her mind. _All the drama that goes between the Calores and the Samoes will eat you alive._

Mare saved the link and fell back into her chair, closing her eyes. She felt a budding migraine and and began to rub vigorously on a spot at the back of her head. A brief while later, she sat up and scrolled back to the top of the search page. This time, she typed Mareena Titanos’ name into the search bar.

What she found did not disappoint. The headline of the first news article instantly snagged her attention, for it shouted, in bold lettering, “SUMMERTON STUDENT KILLED IN CAR CRASH”.

She scanned the article, and clicked into the next one. And the next one, reading every word. Soon, she had amassed enough information to form a basic understanding of the case: Mareena Titanos had been running recklessly around the streets at one in the morning, distraught for reasons undisclosed, and a drunken driver had struck her. As simple as that.

However, when she reached the bottom of the fifth page of search results, she noticed that something about the title of a blog article seemed different than those she had seen earlier.

“MAREENA TITANOS MURDERED IN BRUTAL ‘CAR ACCIDENT’”, it said.

_Murdered? Also, why’s “car accident” in quotation marks?_

The information she found inside the blog article, as strange as it seemed, gave her a new perspective on the situation. The writer claimed that the car accident that had killed Mareena had not been an accident. And they suspected that the esteemed Calore family was behind it all, placing emphasis less on the two heartbroken boys than their proud, filthy-rich parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment telling me what u think!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone, i'm back again!! this chapter was SO FUN to write omfg

Mare stood by her newly assigned locker the next day, emptying most of the contents in her backpack into the little storage space. She did it as quick as possible to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s tardy. The day already wasn’t off to a good start, for as she tidied up her locker, it didn’t take her long to learn that it was directly across from the one Mareena Titanos used to own.

Mareena’s old locker had been transformed into a shrine of sorts. The door was clipped open, and a sheet of pale blue satin had been draped over the interior of the locker. Little paper hearts that contained kind messages from her classmates adorned the length of it. A banner, with _“Rest in peace, Mareena”_ written over it in gold handlettering, was hung from one end of the satin sheet to the other. A small bundle of tulips, alongside a framed school photo of Mareena, was placed sensibly inside the compartment. A sweet-smelling candle burned beside it.

Mare closed her locker door and turned its combination code. She took a step closer to the memorial with the intention to read the messages written on the paper hearts, but was promptly distracted. She stole a glance at Mareena’s school photo, studying the curls of her hair, the rich brown of her eyes, the button nose and her megawatt smile; features all so much like her own.

Mare bit her lip as she continued to look at the girl in the photo. A feeling was slowly blossoming within her chest, one that she was unfamiliar with.

She felt that her doppelganger had been wronged; by whomever, she didn’t know. She knew that Mareena hadn’t deserved what she had gotten, not in the slightest sense, and what made it worse was that there was something very fishy with it all. She knew that the incident of Mareena Titanos was not all that it seemed, and that she very much wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery.

 _Come find out,_ the girl in the photo beckoned to her. Mareena’s unblinking eyes stared up at Mare, wide and luminous. _Solve my mystery,_ they seemed to say. _Come find out. You think I would have just let myself die like this?_

Mare’s thoughts were cut short when somebody behind her loudly cleared their throat. She turned nonchalantly away from the memorial, trying her best to act as though she hadn’t been staring intently at a photo of a dead girl for the past two minutes.

Two girls stood before her. One had curling, dyed-red hair that fell past her shoulders and down her back. She was petite and strikingly pretty, the curve of her dark eyes hinting at her heritage. Her small, heart-shaped lips were pursed together.

The other girl flanking her was tall and slim, jet black locks swept up into a high ponytail. She gave Mare a quick once-over with her beady brown eyes.

It took a small moment for Mare to register that this was the girl that had been trying in vain to get Evangeline’s attention in history class the day before.

“You’re Mare,” The redhead said bluntly.

“Correct,” Mare responded, tired.

She didn’t say anything in response. Her dark eyes were searching Mare’s face, growing sadder by the minute. She must have seen something in her because before Mare even knew it, they began to well up with tears. Her face scrunched up in embarrassment, and she brushed her tears away viciously with the back of her hand.

Mare stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“Elane,” The dark-haired girl said gently, a hand curling around the redhead's wrist. She didn’t give Mare any other sign of acknowledgement. “Let’s just go.”

Elane let the other girl drag her away for a few steps before stopping a few lockers away from Mareena’s. She said something to the other girl that made her leave, despite the dejected sigh she gave. Even though she wasn’t looking in her direction, Mare knew that the next words that Elane spoke were directed towards her.

“Mareena was my best friend,” The redhead offered as a way of explanation, her tone reluctant. She grabbed her binder from her locker, clutching it tightly to her chest as though it was a shield.

“I see,” Mare responded in turn. “She must have meant a lot to you.”

“Yes.” At that, Elane closed her locker door shut with a _bang._ Mare startled at the sound as she turned to face her. Pain flitted in her dark eyes. “I loved her, and I think about her every day.”

“Do I remind you too much of her for your liking?” Mare inquired, only partly joking. Upon saying that, she wondered if it really had been appropriate to do so.

“Evidently.” Elane’s anguished expression did not change. “It’s like I’m reliving it all over again or some shit.”

“I’m sorry,” was all Mare could offer. She shrugged at her for good measure.

“We drifted apart,” She said, her entire demeanor shifting from mournful to unforgiving. “She stopped telling me things, and left me for Maven. He replaced me.”

“For Maven,” Mare echoed, her curiosity piqued. “I thought she dated Cal.”

“Nobody knew where her loyalties stood,” Elane responded, eyes narrowing dangerously. “That’s what the Calores do to you. Confuse you. Muddle you up. Poison you, slowly, from the inside out.”

“Damn, girl,” Mare couldn’t help but say. “Who hurt you?”

“The three of them were a toxic triangle,” She continued on, paying her no heed. Her eyes swum out of focus, drifting someplace far away. “And it got her killed. I warned her. I _fucking_ warned her. Now Evangeline’s stuck with Cal, and here you are. You were with Maven yesterday, right? Please, do yourself a favor and keep away from him.”

Mare felt her patience running out. Frankly, she was growing tired of how everybody in Summerton seemed to be speaking to her in half-truths. She was being kept in the dark, and she didn’t like the feeling. “I guess we’ll see about that.”

“You have to. Nobody grows close to them, Mare.” Elane’s delicate face twisted distastefully. “No one gains the privilege of knowing whatever it is that they hide unless they want a free pass to _disappear_ or _die mysteriously_ shortly afterwards.”

Mare raised her eyebrows. “What about Cal’s friends, then?”

“They’re still careful to keep their distance. Not all of them are idiots. You could say Cal attracts the right kind of attention,” Elane mused. “His brother, however…”

“What about him?”

“Look at him,” She said in a grating tone, brows furrowing. “So sweet, so quiet. So unsuspecting. I bet you a thousand dollars he knows how Mareena _really_ died.” She barked out a laugh. “A car crash? Come on, they could do better than that.”

“What do you think happened?” Mare asked her eagerly. She wanted to know.

“They killed Mareena,” Elane said bitterly. “The Calore family killed her in cold blood and made it look like an accident. For what, I don’t know. She — she was my other half. And now, Evangeline —”

She cut herself off abruptly, as though she wasn’t supposed to tell her but had allowed it to slip out. Just then, the bell for first period rang, the merry, chiming tune out-of-place in Mare’s ears. A feeling resembling that of great regret seeped into her. _Just what am I getting myself into, really?_ “What about Evangeline?”

“Evangeline has to stay with that idiot Cal, and she won’t tell me why,” She fumed. “All they do is take people away from me.”

“She doesn’t strike me as the type who people would be able to _take away.”_

A silence descended over them. Mare’s head spun from having heard so many different sides of the same story. _The Calores are dangerous this, the Samoses are dangerous that._ She pushed herself off the locker she’d been leaning against and said resignedly, “Maybe I should go.”

Elane didn’t say anything for a good five seconds. Mare was about to turn and leave before she heard her murmur softly, “I hope we can be friends one day, Mare.”

She gave the redhead a rueful smile. “Me, too, Elane.”

Mare tried not to look back as she went, but she couldn’t help it. Elane had moved to stand before Mareena’s memorial, books hugged close to her chest, mournful dark eyes watching the flame inside the burning candle flicker in its slow dance.

\--

Mare felt Evangeline’s black eyes latch onto her the moment she took a step into the history classroom. She continued towards her seat near the back of the classroom, trying not to look at her. Evangeline was probably trying to get a feel of her, like a wolf observing its opponent before it decided its best way to pounce. The thought unsettled Mare.

Class hadn’t started. Cal hadn’t arrived, and neither had Mr. Jacos or half her classmates. However, she noticed Elane sitting to Evangeline’s right, head bowed with her red curls spilling over a shoulder.

Maven sat at the back row with his head unceremoniously on the desk. He had an apparent bedhead, the curls of his black hair sticking out in all directions as though he’d woken up and immediately jumped out the door. When she got closer, Mare noticed a small, silver emblem of a crown etched across the band of his headphones. _Custom made, limited edition Beats. Okay, then._

She recalled the photo she’d seen of him on Google yesterday. A corner of her mouth tilted. An idle thought found its way into her brain: _Why doesn’t he have bodyguards?_

Mare wondered whether or not it would be acceptable to wake him up so that she could ask him the question. Promptly, she decided against it.

However, Maven still hadn’t woken up five minutes later, when Mr. Jacos had already begun well into the class. Today, he was talking about a sightseeing project that they would have to complete in pairs over the course of the next few weeks. Mare’s mind alternated between absorbing the information Mr. Jacos was giving her, and the still-sleeping boy behind her. _Maybe I should give him a nudge. Should I?_

 _Did he just_ — _was that a snore?_

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Cal shooting anxious glances at his brother every so often. Occasionally they were directed towards her, but he looked away every time she tried to meet his eyes. Eventually, she gave up.

“Mr. Calore?” Mr. Jacos queried, having finally taken note of Maven’s situation. All eyes went to Cal, who groaned and indicated with a shake of his head that nothing was wrong, before shifting slowly towards Maven. He gave no reaction.

“Somebody wake him, please,” Mr. Jacos said tiredly.

Mare tipped backwards on her chair, leaned across, and jostled his arm. “Maven,” She whispered. “Wake up.”

He made a slight stirring motion before burying his head deeper into the sleeves of his hoodie.

“Maven,” She shook his arm harder. _“Maven.”_

He lifted his head an inch, mumbling something incoherent under his breath. He blinked, eyes bleary and shot through with blood. He squinted, as if the glare of the light from Mr. Jacos’ powerpoint projector hurt his eyes.

“Rise and shine,” She cracked an uneasy smile.

He canted his head, unresponsive. Just then, Mare noticed the odor — he smelled of something unpleasant, yet something familiar, but she couldn’t place a finger on it.

“Don’t go back to sleep,” Mare whispered to him. “We’re in class.”

He paused. His eyes widened fractionally, focusing finally on her. “Mareena, you’re back? Where did you go?” He slurred in a daze, loud enough for the whole classroom to hear. They’d stopped paying Mr. Jacos any attention to listen to their exchange. “Why did you leave me so suddenly?”

 _Oh, no._ “It’s not Mareena,” She told him quickly, the back of her neck burning. “Remember? I’m Mare Barrow. I just came here.”

“I didn’t —” His voice broke. “I didn’t think I would see you again.”

A burst of pity jolted through her. “I’m Mare,” She said again. “I’m not Mareena. Wake up.”

He frowned quizzically, then, unable to piece the puzzle together. “Mare?”

Mare heard somebody’s chair skid across the floor, followed by quick, heavy footsteps behind her. Soon, Cal was in front of Maven’s desk and taking his brother by the shoulders.

 _“Maven,”_ He pleaded, giving him a rough shake. “Not here, not now.”

Maven looked up, attempting to focus. Recognition sparked in the blue of his eyes, and they cleared. “Cal.”

“Your eyes,” Cal hissed in a breath. “You’ve made quite a scene.” He turned around, shooting Mr. Jacos an apologetic glance, of which he seemed to accept. Then, he grabbed Maven by the sleeve of his hoodie and dragged him from the chair.

“He didn’t sleep at all yesterday,” He offered Mr. Jacos. Mare had her doubts. “I’m going to take him to the bathroom to get him cleared up.”

Their teacher nodded in response, placing two fingers onto his temple.

“Sorry” was all Maven could offer. Mare saw him shake free of Cal’s grip as the pair of them moved towards the door.

_What was that all about?_

“Let’s move along, class,” Mr. Jacos said, resuming his lesson. “Stop staring at Ms. Barrow and focus here.”

Mare was about to get up from her desk and hug him, then. However, the whispers didn’t stop coming. She got a scalding look of disapproval from Elane and a wrinkle of Evangeline’s pert nose.

“As I was saying, you will work in pairs,” Mr. Jacos continued. “Ensure that you choose at least three historical sites that relate to the past rulers of Norta, and explain their significance. These reports will account for twenty-five percent of your grade, so you’ll have to take them seriously.”

A girl’s hand shot up. “Do we get to choose who we work with?”

Their teacher nodded his head in confirmation. Immediately the class began buzzing, and Mr. Jacos raised his voice to silence them once more.

Mare’s heart sank, knowing that she didn’t have anybody to go to. Her only two potential options were not even in the classroom, for they hadn’t returned. _Actually, scratch that. Make it one. Somebody else will claim Cal._

Before Mare even knew it, everybody had already paired off with each other. Evangeline was one of the last to remain by herself, clearly waiting for Cal, even though Elane sat beside her. However, when it became clear that he wasn’t going to come back within the next few minutes, she relented and allowed Elane to write their names down on Mr Jacos’ sheet of paper.

She looked around the class for anybody who stood alone by themselves. A boy with sandy brown hair sticking out of a snapback leaned against the wall, hands tucked into his pockets, a loose smile tugging at his lips. He nodded at her as Mare’s eyes fell on him.

“Hey,” She approached him uncertainly. The scent drifted towards her; the same scent she’d smelled on Maven. This time, she could tell alcohol was thrown into the mix. _What the hell?_ "I, um..."

“I’ve not had the pleasure of introducing myself to the famous Mare Barrow, have I?” Snapback interrupted before she could continue her sentence, offering her his hand. She smiled, cringing a little, but reached out to clasp it with her own. It was sweaty. “Name’s Thomas.”

“Good to meet you,” She said. “Now, could you me a favor?”

“Let me hear it.”

“Be my partner for this project so I’m not the loner,” She whispered quickly. “There’s an odd number of people in the class, isn’t there?”

His smile faded. “I’m sorry, sunshine, but I’ve already got someone.”

Mare’s stomach sank. She glanced around the classroom, but there no longer seemed to be anybody free. Mr. Jacos had told them to begin working with their partners, hadn’t he? “Where?”

“I’m waitin’ on him,” He said, nodding to the door.

“Oh,” Mare laughed lightly, remembering that the two boys were still out in the bathroom. _Is Maven okay?_ “Oops, I forgot they existed for a second.”

Finally, they came back. There were only five minutes until the end of the lesson when they ambled in from the door. Maven had cleaned his face and smoothed the mess of his hair, looking much more like the Google image. Even though his eyes were still bloodshot, they were blinking and wide awake.

“There he is,” Thomas grinned as they came closer. “It’s buddy-up time!" He called out. "Wanna be my pair, Mavey?”

“Don’t call him Mavey,” Cal bit out.

“You nannying him now, Guy Fieri?” Thomas laughed, unaffected.

Mare raised her eyebrows. _I thought it’d be Cal instead of Maven he wanted to go with._ “Maven, is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” He disregarded Thomas and Cal, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about that, Mare. I — I was half asleep.”

“I see,” She felt a pang of sadness for him.

She heard Thomas scoff at that, but it was replaced quickly with a bright grin. “So, whaddaya say, M?” He interjected.

Cal stiffened, folding his arms. Maven’s attention shifted to Thomas, and at that, he clenched his jaw tightly. “I…”

“No?” Thomas said innocently. “Not even after yesterday? I thought you’d changed your mind about me.” He threw in a wink.

Maven looked away to the side, conflicted, before giving a small shake of his head.

“Jesus,” He chuckled. “All you rich boys have laughably high intoler —”

“Please choose your partners by the end of the lesson!” Mr. Jacos interrupted Thomas, booming from the front of the classroom, even though it was just the four of them who remained undecided. “You don’t have much time left!”

"You stay away from my brother, Thomas,” Cal grinded in Thomas’ direction, taking a step between the two of them. 

Maven drew back, frowning. "Cal."

“You'll be doing it with me," Cal said to Thomas, disregarding his brother. "We have some things to sort out. Maven, you can go with Mare, if that’s okay with her.”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Mare offered. _As long as you remember who I am._

“I don’t need your pompous ass manhandling me, Calore,” Thomas said indignantly, even though Cal was already heading towards the front of the classroom to write their names down. “Neither does your brother here. Mavey?”

There wasn’t much time for Thomas to change Cal’s mind, for Mr. Jacos took in the paper after Cal had finished writing on it.

“I’m okay with it,” Maven said, sounding relieved. At that, Thomas' face fell in disappointment.

Mare looked to Maven. His face was closed in, as though he very much disapproved of the situation unfolding before him. “And stop calling me Mavey.”

“Wow,” Thomas was hurt. “Your asshole brother gets special nickname privileges, but I don’t?”

Just then, the bell rang. Cal returned as the rest of the class was dismissed, and gestured with a single finger for Thomas to follow. He started out the door without so much as a backwards glance.

“What the fuck does Fieri want now?” Thomas pushed himself from the desk he’d been leaning against and took after Cal. "I'll see ya later," He said, sparing Maven a single wink.

Maven groaned, coming to stand beside her. She turned her head and raised her eyebrows at him.

“It’s…” He ran a hand through his hair. “A long story. He’s quite something.”

She watched Thomas’ receding back as he made his way out of the classroom beside Cal. There was an embroidered patch of a marijuana leaf sewn to the back of his bomber jacket. The realisation struck her like a brick, and she almost laughed out loud. _Weed. He smelled like weed. Maven smelled like weed._

_Dear god, I should have known. I've been to enough house parties. Red eyes, slurred speech, drowsiness?_

"Damn," Mare found the entire situation hysterically funny, and was trying to smother a smile. “You hit it up hard last night, didn’t you?”

Maven hung his head, a pained expression dawning on his features. Mare instantly felt guilty.

“I guess you can tell me about it later,” She said finally. "If you want."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> where my cal fieri folks at ;)))) also i was planning to give thomas thigh high weed socks at first but then decided to rule it out HAHAHA anyway u guys know the drill! pls leave a kudos and comment, it would rly make my day!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone,, this update took longer than i intended for it to be and i apologise for that, life kind of got into the way! but i'm on spring break rn and finally found the motivation to pick this back up, so here it is!

Since Mare had just come, she worked alone during chemistry class. Cal and his lab partner were situated at the table opposite hers, doing everything except for the lab report at hand. Sometimes she would catch him looking at her, but look away the moment he registered that she knew and re-engage in mildly flirtatious behavior with his lab partner. Evangeline wasn’t in this class, after all.

Mare understood why he kept looking her way, and didn’t blame him for it.

If she were in his position, she would probably also be stealing glances every chance she could get, even though it would never stop hurting. She tried to imagine if Shade had died, and a lookalike of his moved into the house subsequently afterwards. She wouldn’t be able to stand it, and instead would probably spend days upon days questioning her sanity every time she saw him, let alone attempting to _befriend_ him. However, that was the path both Cal and Maven had chosen to take.

Therefore, it could be said that Mare admired the way people were handling things. It was the second day, and it seemed that they hadn’t completely lost it yet.

 _Maybe not everyone,_ she reminded herself. _After all, Maven was stoned as hell in first period._

Mare stopped measuring a flask of acid to watch as Cal’s lab partner lifted a test tube, peered at it in fascination, and began twirling it around in between her fingers as though it was a baton. Cal sat by, watching her in amusement before interjecting with something that made her laugh. The bright red liquid sloshed precariously up the side of the test tube, and a few droplets of it splattered onto the table. _Oh, dear._

“Tiberias, Tirana,” Mr. Arven snapped. _“Focus on your task.”_

“With all due respect, sir,” Cal started, spinning his pen in his hand, “Please don’t call me Tiberias.”

“I’m afraid I cannot do what you ask if you cannot repay the same favor, Tiberias,” Their teacher said sternly. “Have your lab report complete by the time this period ends, and we’ll negotiate.”

Cal’s brow set. “Forget it, then.”

Mare rolled her eyes, unimpressed. Promptly, she resumed her own work.

Near the end of class, Mare’s classmates were given back their test results from the previous week. Cal took a look at his paper, barked out a laugh, and crushed it into a tight little ball in his fist. His lab partner Tirana, however, tossed her D- aside in an indifferent manner and continued to giggle at a joke they’d shared five minutes ago.

“Before you toss that into the trash, Tiberias,” Mr. Arven said sternly from his desk, “Come discuss your grade with me after class.”

“Fine.” He leaned back on his seat, squeezing his eyes shut in distress. Tirana fluttered a hand down the length of his arm, as though she was hoping that the action would offer him some semblance of comfort.

When everyone was dismissed by the bell, Mr. Arven approached Cal’s desk as the rest of the class filed out the door. Mare lingered behind, tidying her apparatus up in a deliberately slow fashion.  

“Three tests since the beginning of the school year, and you’ve barely scraped past the last two,” Their teacher gestured towards the crumpled-up test paper resting on the table. “And this one, you’ve failed completely.”

 _I wonder whose fault it is,_ Mare thought. _I’ll stay to listen._

He released a breath and nodded. His eyes flickered towards her, and she gave an apologetic shrug when his eyebrows lifted. She found herself wondering what had ensued between Thomas and Cal after history. _I’ll find out soon enough, if I see Maven during lunchtime, and if he decides to tell me when I ask._

“Cal,” Mr. Arven sighed, taking a seat in front of him. “I know that Mareena’s death —” At that, his gaze shifted briefly to Mare, “— has taken a toll on you over the past few months. I completely understand that, but you cannot let your grades continue to drop like this. It is time to refocus on what matters, which is what is in front of you.”

Cal’s eyebrows furrowed in despair, looking like he’d very much like to rebuke his words and say otherwise. When he buried his face in a hand, Mare chewed her lip, pity blooming in her stomach. “Yes, sir.”

“Do you have anybody to tutor you?” Mr. Arven inquired. “Perhaps we may need to change your lab partner.”

 _Good idea,_ Mare snorted inwardly, recalling the experiment they’d conducted in class earlier.  _The girl looked like she was about to drink that acid._

“No and no,” He muttered. “But don’t worry about me, sir. I’ll get my act up, I promise.”

“Good,” Their teacher gave Cal a sympathetic look. “Because if your grades continue to drop like this, you’re going to be suspended from the football team. The principal and I discussed this and came to a decision.”

“Hold it,” Cal sat up, alert. He frowned deeply. “Can we talk about that with Coach first?”

“I’m afraid he agrees with this decision," Mr. Arven responded, his tone patient. Mare could tell that nothing Cal said would be able to change his mind.

“But I’m —” He faltered. “I was just made team captain!”

Mare looked away discreetly and set her test tube rack back into the apparatus cabinet. She got the distinct sense that Cal probably didn’t want her to barge even further into his private matters, so she heaved her backpack over a shoulder and moved to go. As she walked across the classroom and towards the door, she caught snatches of their conversation.

“How about asking your brother for guidance?” Mr. Arven was asking. “He doesn’t seem to have a problem with his chemistry work. Or any other subject, for that matter.”

“Maven’s been preoccupied with grieving, too,” Cal countered, drumming his fingers on the desk. His lips pressed together into a disapproving line. “He has his own problems to deal with. Let’s not forget all those chess club meetings, either.”

_They have a chess club?_

“But his grades have not been going down like yours, have they?” Mr. Arven replied flatly.

“Look, he’s just more academically inclined than I am, okay?” was the last thing Mare overheard from Cal as she trailed out the door. However, Cal was quick to catch up. As she made her way down the seven staircases towards the cafeteria, she found him slowing beside her when she reached the third.

Mare was unsure of what to say, for she was wondering whether or not she should be feeling guilty at having eavesdropped on so much of his conversation with their chemistry teacher. _Maybe I should offer to help somehow. I finish all my homework on time, anyway. Well, I try to, at least._

“So,” He cleared his throat, running a hand through his black hair. “I just wanted to warn you that Mr. Arven assigned me as your new lab partner.”

“Warn me?” She arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Cal gave a short nod of confirmation without looking at her. His gaze stayed on the linoleum floor. “Don’t set the bar too high. I’ll be a bit of a letdown.”

“Well then, I hope you're not expecting me to have you on my back,” She teased.

A corner of his mouth quirked, and he raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “Oh, you don’t like it that way?”

“Jesus,” She smacked Cal in the side, eliciting a hearty laugh from him. “That’s so gross. I _meant,_ I wasn’t gonna be the team carrier.”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” He said finally. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t be doing my part, though.”

Something told her working with Cal would be an interesting experience, or would at least lead to interesting experiences. “Any reason why he’s making me your new lab partner?”

“Well, we do have great chemistry together,” He delivered, giving her that crooked smile of his, albeit tentatively. “If that’s what you’re asking.”

“Oh my god, Tiberias Calore.” Despite herself, Mare felt her cheeks flare. “A low-grade chemistry pun? Really? I’m disap- _pun_ -ted.”

Cal’s response was quick on his tongue. “I’ll be _pun-_ ishing you for calling me Tiberias.”

At that, she let loose a small bout of laughter. “You’re very _pun-_ ny, Tiberias.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Well, you’re a night _mare.”_

“Lame,” She remarked, laughing again in delight. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”

“Hey!” He placed a hand to his chest, mockingly hurt. “I never asked for your o- _pun_ -ion.”

"Oh, no you didn't."

"You bet your ass I did."

She shook her head slowly, exasperated. “You don’t like losing, do you?”

“It de- _pun-_ ds,” He shrugged. “When it comes to punning, it’s a definite no.”

“I cannot keep up,” Mare conceded. “You win.”

“What a pi —” He cut himself off, face slowly splitting into a grin. “ _Pun_ -ty.”

“That was terrible,” Mare shook her head in an exaggerated manner, motioning as if she was to run away from him. “You win, okay? I — _cannot_ keep up with this.”

“I’ll spare you," He joked again. "I won't be so forgiving the next time, though."

Mare laughed again. “Why are you called Cal if your name’s Tiberias, anyway?”

He paused, contemplating his answer. “There were six Tiberiases before me, so let’s just say my parents ran out of nicknames to come up with.” He shrugged casually. “Since everyone calls my dad Tibe, they gave me Cal. It’s short for Calore.”

“I see,” She nodded. “It’s not the first thing I would think of, though. But I mean, I wouldn’t want to be called Berias, so that works.”

“Yeah,” He said, chuckling. “Props to my family for that. They’re… inventive.”

 _And murderous,_ was the first thought that flew into Mare’s brain. _Are they?_ Promptly, she wondered if he would give her the answers she needed about Mareena if she simply asked him. But as she caught sight of him smiling as if he’d forgotten about Mareena’s ghost, who hovered over them both, she closed her mouth and decided against it. He seemed unaffected so far, and she was enjoying herself. She would hate to ruin the moment.

However, Cal was the one who disturbed the burdenless period they’d seem to have shared together.

“So, is your name short for anything?” He asked her, eyes inquisitive.

“No,” She shook her head, unaware of the mistake Cal had made in asking her. “My name’s tiny in itself.”

When he realised, he stopped short. She turned around. “Cal?”

He looked as though she’d punched him. Then she thought her words over, and realised that her own name could have been derivative of Mareena. “Oh.”

Cal leaned against the bannister, hands tightening on the cold metal, the inner battle that he was fighting reflected on the emotions flitting across his face. He didn’t respond, and Mare wondered if he would care if she stopped to wait.

“I’m… sorry.” 

“No. Don’t be,” He looked up, giving her a small, nervous smile. “Arven was right. It’s not your fault, and I have to learn to live with it.”

“I’m sure… That was what Mareena would have wanted,” She said quietly to him.

They were ten minutes into the lunch period and were only a floor away from reaching the cafeteria, but Mare decided to join him when he slid down from the wall. She took a seat beside him on the floor, crossing her legs. They sat there in silence, side by side. Cal rested his elbows on his knees, and the silence stretched over their heads before blanketing them whole.

Mare was the first to break it. “So…” 

“It was prom night,” Cal said quickly as she trailed off. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.

“Go on,” Mare prompted gently, waiting for him to continue as he paused.

The words spilled out of him like a waterfall, and she listened patiently. He told her about how he’d picked her up from her house and brought her to the dance, limo and corsage and everything. He told her about the way she’d looked under the neon lights of the hall, bright and radiant, about the jewelled clasps in her hair and the fairy dust on her cheekbones. He told her about the way she’d laughed, as if the world was her oyster, and how it had been the last he’d seen of her before somebody else had pulled her away into the crowd of dancing bodies.

He told her — _Sometimes, I think I can still feel her laughter if I tried._

He told her — _If only I hadn’t been blackout drunk, I think... it wouldn’t… it wouldn’t have happened that night. She went… home by herself. She walked home. That was when the car hit her._

He dropped his head in his hands, and Mare was quiet when he finished. Slowly and hesitantly, she inched her arm over his shoulders, even though she was slightly nervous of how he would respond. However, he leaned into her, taking comfort in her touch. 

“So..." She whispered, "You're saying that it would have happened sometime else, if you hadn’t been blackout drunk?”

Cal smarted. “No,” He clarified quickly. “No. That wasn't what I meant. I… I should have gone home with her. I really, really should have.”

She was about to tell him that she was sorry, but then reminded herself that he wouldn’t want her to. So she decided to ask him about something else.

“Do you…” Mare started before cutting herself off. Curiosity got the better of her, and she heaved a small breath. She wondered if there was a point in asking. “What about the person who killed her, then? The drunk driver?”

“Her name’s Cameron Cole, and she’s being detained right now,” His face tightened at the mention of Mareena's killer, and he continued to stare down at his hands. “She's a college student.”

“Well, at least she’s getting jail time,” She nudged him. “Right?”

He looked up, but what he said in response wasn’t an answer. “If it’d been me that night, driving her, I’d have crashed and we’d have both died.”

“Oh?” Mare was slightly taken aback.

His brows furrowed deeply as he mumbled something under his breath, speaking more to himself than to her. “I honestly wonder how they would have taken that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, kudos and comments are always appreciated :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, i'm so sorry. i know it's been 2 months, but school's pretty much over now & updates will be more frequent during the summer. this chapter's relatively longer to make up for lost time. once again, i'm very sorry rip

At last, when they stepped into the cafeteria together, Mare realised that they’d already overran twenty minutes of their lunch period. She and Cal parted ways, but he looked back at where she was standing halfway to his table. He flashed her a broad smile before jumping back into the waiting arms of his friends. Just moments before, he’d dipped his head and thanked her sincerely, and Mare thought she’d glimpsed a hint of vulnerability on his face before they’d walked in.

Now he’d clearly melded back into his popular-jock persona. She watched him, her expression transforming into something halfway between a smirk and a grimace as he gave an unsuspecting friend a noogie.

“Screw you, Calore!” His friend whipped around, grinning as he jammed an elbow into Cal’s stomach. Caught between a laugh and a wince, Cal stumbled backwards at the force. “I was having the time of my life before you got here!”

“Where were you?” Evangeline demanded imperiously from the other side of the table, arms crossed. When her steely eyes flickered up to meet Mare’s gaze, she frowned back at her before looking away quickly.

As she moved further up the lunch line, she found herself scanning the cafeteria for Maven, and found him sitting at the same table he was at yesterday. Again, he was alone and chewing quietly at his beef burger, headphones drowning out the world. When he noticed her looking, his blue eyes widened in the usual response, but a smile touched his lips seconds later when he composed himself. He lifted his hand in a wave, and Mare mirrored the gesture.

He didn’t _look_ stoned. Not anymore.

Elane’s warnings darted through her mind. _Sweet. Unsuspecting. Dangerous. Not at all what he seems._ She ignored them, for he knew she could handle it. She’d back away the moment she detected in him the potential to harm. For now, he was a grief-stricken boy who didn’t seem to be aware of his limits.

Her brain wandered. _How much pain does the sight of me cause him? Is it selfish to go to him like this_ — _just because you’re curious about Mareena?_

 _It’s not just that,_ her brain fired back at itself. _I want to be his friend. And I want to ask him about Cameron Cole._

“May I?” Mare inquired as she approached one of the spare seats of the table, still wondering about him. She’d been told so many things about him by so many people.

Again, he smiled up at her as he pushed his headphones off his ears. “Be my guest.”

Mare hooked an ankle around the leg of her chair and placed her tray on the table. “So, what’s up?” She asked, sinking into the seat and popping a fry into her mouth.

“Nothing much,” He shrugged casually. “Well, not since... the last you saw me. Mare, I’m really sorry about —”

“Don’t mention it,” She interrupted before he could continue. “I understand, I really do. You don’t have to apologise. It’s totally fine, and I get that you need time to… to adjust. Take however long you want.”

“Yeah,” He stopped short. The expression on his face was conflicted, and Mare could tell that he was having an internal war with himself. “Thank you. I don’t know, this entire situation is just…”

“Weird?”

“I was about to say ‘really unexpected’, but sure.”

“Do you need me to… I don’t know, maybe spend time somewhere else?” Mare asked hesitantly. She didn’t know if she would mind if he agreed with her. Even though boys with parents who were the CEOs of her mother’s rival company weren’t exactly on top of her list of ideal people to hang around with, she wanted to get to know him. Elane might have said otherwise, but he seemed like a genuinely nice person.

Also, he was cute. At the thought, Mare bit her lip to suppress a smile.

“No.” Quickly, Maven shook his head. “No. I can handle it, and I’ll be over it in my own time. I was the person who offered to introduce you around the school, anyway, and we haven’t even started the tour yet.” He cracked a grin. “How shitty of me would it be to back out so quickly?”

“Okay,” Mare laughed in relief, loudly over the chatter of the students. “Sure. You can take me wherever you want.”

A funny look crossed his face, but he quickly hid it by turning his head away. Mare sighed inwardly, half in exasperation, half in amusement as she realised how it'd sounded. Maven glanced around the cafeteria. “Well, there are definitely better places to eat lunch in, and I can show you every single one of them.”

“The majority of the school population seems to choose the cafeteria,” Mare remarked.

“It’s not like they’re really _aware_ of said places.” He gave her a mischievously dimpled smile. “Even if they do, they don’t really care.”

“That sounds awesome,” She replied brightly, mood lifting. “I can’t wait. But before that, can we talk about what happened in class today?”

He groaned, leaning back against his chair. “It’s not, like, a regular occurrence, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I see,” She chuckled in amusement. “I’m not one to judge, but I feel like you’ve gotta be more discreet next time.”

Maven’s face soured. “Somehow, I don’t think there’ll be a next time.”

“Don’t worry,” Mare stuck a fry into her mouth. “We all embarrass ourselves. Most of the time, people forget after a day.”

“Yeah, but word’s gonna get to the principal,” His tone was apprehensive. “Then to my parents. And they’ll give me hell for it. It’s going to be one hell of a long day. God, I lost my mind.”

 _My parents._ It was probably a big deal, for a family with silver running in their veins, to discover that one of their sons had been doing drugs under the radar. _There really should be no surprise there, though. Isn’t it what all sad rich boys do?_

Mare paused. “Once, my mom caught my brother Shade smuggling champagne under his bed. Bottles and bottles of it. She almost disowned him, right then and there.”

“Champagne?” Maven lifted his dark brows. “Classy.”

She laughed. “My dad had the same reaction. All he did was crack a bottle of rosé open and call Shade a ‘man of great taste’. My mom was _so mad._ I swear to god, you could have seen the steam pouring out of her ears.”

“I don’t know your dad, but I already love him,” Maven chuckled. “You should see _my_ mom. Let me tell you about my brother Cal’s tobacco pipe and the way she reacted to that.”

 _“Tobacco pipe?”_ She snorted. “Who is he, Sherlock Holmes?”

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” Maven quoted sarcastically. “Anyway, here’s the story: my dad just found him puffing on it like a sad nineteenth-century English poet a few weeks back, and thought nothing about it.”

Mare raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“Apparently, he did it when he was younger too. _But,_ my mother snapped the pipe in two and threatened to kick him out of the house.” A corner of his lip curled at that.

“What a savage.”

“She’s all business, that’s for sure.” He grimaced.

Mare thought back to the photo she’d seen of Elara Merandus, C.E.O. of Calore Inc. She’d looked like she’d been cut from glass. “And that’s episode one of _Keeping Up with the Calores.”_

He didn’t miss a beat. “Only available for streaming on Sundays at eight, on Netflix Norta.”

“Can I just say,” Mare began, “That the Tiberiases seem like very pretentious people?”

“You are absolutely right,” Maven deadpanned. “Cal wears lifts in his shoes.”

“You’re kidding.”

He nodded a head in his brother’s direction. Cal was caught in the middle of an intense battle of arm wrestling. “Look how gigantic he is and tell me he doesn’t wear lifts in his shoes.”

“True. He’s like 7 foot tall.”

“He can’t even run in them, but he wears them to his football games. They kill his feet,” Maven said, shaking his head. “Keep in mind that he’s captain of the football team.”

“Well,” Mare burst out laughing. “I don’t know what to say.”

“He pretends he doesn’t know how to play chess in front of other people,” Maven continued, giving a small shrug. “In reality, he’s actually pretty okay at it. He’s a great opponent.”

“Does he do that to maintain his popular jock image?” Mare smirked.

He made finger guns. “Gotcha.”

“That’s kinda dumb, but I respect his decision.”

“Sometimes, you just gotta do what you have to to preserve your dignity,” He responded in a mockingly serious tone.

“Wise words from a wise man,” Mare teased. “You’re on the chess team, correct?”

“Yeah,” Maven nodded in confirmation. She detected no shame from him at all. “Been in it ever since I was a freshman. How’d you know?”

“Oh, I overheard it,” Mare said casually. “My chemistry teacher was telling your brother about you, and Cal mentioned it.”

“Arven?” He frowned. “Silent Stone was telling Cal about me?”

She laughed a little at _Silent Stone._ “Yeah, about how good your grades are. He failed the test, so Mr. Arven suggested that he should start seeking help from you.”

“Oh,” He said dismissively. “That’s just never going to happen. He doesn’t really care about school. It’s not like my dad’ll do anything about it, though, and my mom… can’t.”

“Your mom can’t?”

“No,” Maven shook his head bitterly. “Basically, my parents run this company, and Cal’s my dad’s golden boy who’s getting the family inheritance no matter what. My dad’s set on my brother taking after him once he graduates from college.”

“I see,” Mare paused. She was totally pretending that she hadn’t spent an hour going through articles of their crew and business deals just the night before. “He seemed very upset about it, though.”

“That’s because my mom’s getting to him, I guess.” Maven said sheepishly. “She tries to convince my dad about how it requires a _specific set of skills_ to uphold my family’s company, of which she says Cal lacks.”

“And she wants to put you in his place,” She finished for him.

“Pretty much,” He replied with a nod. “Cal’s dead set on pursuing a career in football — or sports, at least, so I can imagine my mother’s unhappiness. He doesn’t _want_ the job.”

“But do you want to take the company?” Mare queried.

He waited a moment before responding. “I do,” He murmured, a quiet determination in his eyes. “My mother would be proud.”

“I’m sure she would be.”

“Sorry,” Maven smiled apologetically at her, running a hand through his curly hair. “Family drama. Thanks for listening to me overshare. What about you, then? Do you have any plans?”

“What, for my future?” Mare shoved the last fry into her mouth. “I plan to drop out and become a stripper.”

He snorted. “Strippers do earn a surprisingly high amount of money.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I want to become one.”

“There is a grand total of one strip club in Archeon,” He winked. “Stay ambitious.”

“In a city like _this?_ Are you kidding?”

“Why would I lie?”

“And how did you come across that piece of information?” Mare asked him slyly.

“Well, my eighteenth birthday is coming up, so...” At Mare's mortified expression, he doubled over in boyish laughter and shook his head at her. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. It's... my dad. He... forgets to close his tabs.”

She stopped chuckling and gave a startled _oh._ The conversation halted for her.

“No, seriously, though,” Maven laughed. “Where would you plan on going after this?”

“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to college in the city,” She mused aloud. “Before, back when I was still in the Stilts, it seemed really… I don’t know. It seemed more of a faraway fantasy. But now that I’m already here, with my mom’s job promotion and all, it might actually happen.”

As she spoke, she was reminded of yesterday’s revelation, of how her mother was working for Evangeline Samos’ dad and that she knew both sons of the bosses of her rival company. And that she was talking to him right now.

She decided not to mention it, just yet.

Maven was smiling. “Fortunately for you, there is more than one college in Archeon.”

“I’ve still gotta stay ambitious, though,” She continued his joke, even though she was being completely serious. “If I’m going to get into freaking University of Archeon and take their electrical engineering course.”

“Electrical engineering,” His eyebrows lifted. “University of Archeon. Damn. I know for a fact that a lot of their courses are the best in the country. Why electrical engineering, though?”

Mare hesitated. However, as he continued to encourage her to tell her tale, she gave in and started off slowly at first.

She launched into a collection of stories of how she’d become fascinated with lightning from the very first time she’d seen it streak through the sky, and how she’d already begun to develop an interest in all things wiry and electric promptly after that. However, when her dad was electrocuted by an unforgiving lightning bolt a stormy, fateful night years back, suffering damage to his central nervous system, Mare set a lifelong goal to keep the electricity contained. And so began her knack for fixing the wires in little cable boxes as her father looked on, unable to move from his wheelchair.

Maven was quiet when she finished. “I’m really sorry. About your dad. He… would be extremely proud of you.” His tone was sincere. “You seem to be really passionate about it.”

“Thank you. He can do everything but move his legs,” She murmured. “Yeah, I really enjoy the technical aspects of engineering, but I know my dad would be really proud of me. I guess there’s something personal in it, too. That’s why I would like to get the degree.”

“We’re on the same page,” Maven said, something soft shining in the winter blue of his eyes. It took a small moment for Mare to realise that what she’d told him had resonated with Maven’s own goal to please his mother.

She smiled at him, and he smiled back. Shyly. She held his eyes, and he held hers. He brushed another stray curl of his hair off his forehead.

Suddenly, she was glad that he’d asked, and that she’d shared that with him. When he stood up to excuse himself to the bathroom, ending the small moment, she found herself strangely disappointed.

However, somebody she _didn’t_ enjoy the presence of took his place the moment he left. Cal’s girlfriend and the Ice Queen herself, Evangeline Samos, plopped down into Maven’s chair once he was out of her sight. She wore a close-fitting white turtleneck and grey jeans, and her sleek silver hair was braided into a long fishtail. A skinny metallic chain dangled off her neck. Up close, Mare noticed that her eyeliner wings were so sharp that they could probably impale a man. Or two.

As danger crowded in around Mare, she tried to distract herself by looking for any dark roots in Evangeline’s hair. She came up with none. Even her hair had been dyed into perfection.

Mare edged backwards in her chair to put as much distance between herself and Evangeline as she possibly could. The other girl's arms were crossed, and a corner of her mouth was angling up into a smirk.

“I don’t believe we’ve spoken before,” Mare said bluntly. Evangeline Samos didn’t _intimidate_ her, of course not. She tried to resist the urge to slap that annoying little smile off her matte plum lips, reminding herself that it would probably be best to stay on her good terms, especially if Evangeline’s father found out about her mother’s position in his company.

She looked to the side, towards Cal’s table. Everybody was staring straight at them, observing their interaction, Cal included among the group. Gone was the air of playfulness. His arms were crossed stiffly, and there was a hard expression on his features.

“Oh, we haven’t, Barrow, but you know who I am,” She said lazily, picking at one of her polished black nails. Mare’s temper flared, and she pressed it down. “Listen, I’m going to cut to the chase. I know that you think that you’re already all chummy-chummy with Mavey here, so I’m going to say this — from now on, you’re going to tell me everything that he tells you. Everything you learn about him, every single minute detail.”

“Um, what the hell?” Mare furrowed her brow in bewilderment. Evangeline’s expression remained unchanged, grey eyes regarding her with an icy focus. “Girl, I have to admit, I didn’t exactly take you for a stalker in the beginning. Unfortunately for you, I’m not exactly up for the job, so you’ll have to find somebody else to assist you in your… psychopathic endeavors.”

"Unfortunately for _you,_ you're the only one I need,” She scoffed. “Say a single word of what I told you to do to anybody, especially to _him_ , and your mother loses her job.”

Mare froze. The cafeteria clattered on. Outside, the breeze ruffled the grass, the cars rumbled ahead, and the world continued to spin. However, Mare remained frozen.

Evangeline’s face was smug and triumphant. “Deal?”

The single word thawed Mare out of her momentary disbelief. “How did you know?” She demanded, her insides dropping as she spoke. When she looked up, searching for leverage, her eyes latched onto Maven returning from the bathroom. His hands were tucked into his pockets as he strolled towards her, but as he spotted Evangeline in his seat, his carefree expression hardened.

Evangeline followed her line of sight, and laughed when she saw him.

_Shit. I was hoping he’d come back before she could finish the conversation._

“I don’t know, maybe your mother shouldn’t have been running her mouth.” The Ice Queen yawned, giving Mare a graceful roll of her shoulder. “I have my sources.”

“I don’t even know him, anyway!” Mare protested desperately. It was taking all her willpower to suppress her desire to slap Evangeline straight across her pretty, made-up face. Hard. “I met him yesterday! Find somebody else!”

Evangeline eyed Maven as he approached their table. “Well, I guess you better start, then.”

She gave him a catlike smile as he stopped in front of his seat, looking down at her in a contemptuous manner. “Leave, Evangeline,” He grinded out between clenched teeth.

“I was just about to do that, stoner boy.” Evangeline stood with a tinkling laugh. After brushing some imaginary dust off her immaculate jeans, she glided back to her lunch table with one last sneer. Mare remained silent even as the sound of her high-heeled boots clicked away into the distance. Maven stood tensely over her, hands balled into fists.

"Sit, Maven."

“Tell me she did not just threaten you.” He eased into his chair and buried his face in a hand. “She... tends to do that."

“Close, but not exactly,” Mare replied distantly, her mind unable to process all that had just happened. Had she jeopardized her mother’s _job position_ two days into her new school year? She should have never told her mom about Mareena and Evangeline. She should have never asked her to talk to her colleagues about said topic. She should have never —

“Mare,” Maven interrupted her rapid train of thought. “Are you alright? What did she say to you?”

She looked at him. His hands were fiddling with his headphones. His eyes were clear as day, his curly dark hair tousled from running his hands through it. There was nothing in his essence that suggested immense wealth, of a boy born with regal blood in his veins and a silver spoon in his mouth. He wore a look of concern on his features. For her.

Mare strengthened her resolve and lied straight to his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little shaken. Celebrity fever, I guess.” She chuckled weakly at her joke. “She told me to… to stay away from Cal. She was being a plain old jealous girlfriend, nothing more. There's nothing to worry about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ik a few of u have waited a while for this, so thank u so much for the continued support even tho i'm a shitty ass updater! once again, pls kudos and comment, and catch me on tumblr at [@mavencalore](https://www.mavencalore.tumblr.com) for occasional news on updates :)  
> p.s. i apologise for the overabundance of innuendos in this fic i just can't help it kldsjflksjfd


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i finally managed to get myself out of my 2 month depression hole and actually write,,, i apologise for the long delay that encompassed summer in its entirety but a lot of shit happened over the last 2 months and this fic went down on my list of priorities... i'm slowly getting better and regaining my motivation so i'll try my best to update more often!! i'm gonna be tackling sophomore year and hopefully it's not gonna be so exhausting to the point where i won't be able to update anymore rip

After school, Mare decided to go for a short jog to clear her thoughts. She laced up her running shoes, stuck her earphones in, and took the elevator downstairs. She wouldn’t be going far, in case she got lost on the way and couldn’t find her way back  — a few blocks would probably be sufficient.

However, as her mind wandered, so did her feet. Mare found herself running down the path by the Capital River, the long body of water that snaked throughout the whole of Norta. Her old town, the Stilts, was located near the river banks. Back at home, Mare and her siblings used to feed the ducks swimming in the dull, blue-grey water. However, the Capital River cut straight across Archeon, and here the water flowed clear and sparkling. Instead of ducks, rowboats painted in a spectrum of muted colors dotted the surface of the river.

Mare wasn’t paying attention to the river as she ran. She was thinking about how she would handle the situation at school, and at home, too. Would she mention it to her mother? If she did, there was a possibility that she would then ask somebody else at her company about it, which was a  _ bad idea  _ because it would reach Evangeline. And she would win. But, didn’t her mother deserve to know?

Mare pumped her arms, urging her body to go faster. A child moved into her path and yelped as she bolted past, narrowly missing the toy that had been strewn on the ground.

“I’m so sorry!” She called behind her.

She couldn’t tell anybody at school, either. If she warned Maven about it, he would take action and Evangeline would win. If she asked Cal about it, he would let it slip at some point, and it would definitely circulate within his group of friends and Evangeline would win. If she did, her mother would lose her job and they would all go broke and homeless and  —

“Mare! Mare Barrow!” Mare heard the voice even through the pounding of the music in her ears. When she turned around, she saw the blonde girl from yesterday  —  Farley, running towards her. A sheen of sweat coated her forehead, smudging her dark eye makeup. A towel was tucked into the collar of her sports shirt, and as she stopped, she whipped it out and rubbed vigorously at her face with it. “You run here too?”

“Oh  —  hey,” Mare greeted her in between vigorous gulps of air. “I didn’t  —  see you!”

“Damn, were you training for the Olympics or something?” Farley remarked, shoving the towel down her neck. “You were on fire!”

Mare tried to laugh, but then ended up gasping deeply for breath. Her shins were burning, and there were faint spots of darkness swimming in her vision.

“You didn’t respond to  _ Mareena Titanos the Second,  _ so I decided to call you by your actual name,” Farley smiled innocently. “It worked.”

Before Mare had a chance to bite back with a retort, a wave of dizziness crashed into her and forced her to her knees. She let herself fall back on her butt and ended up on the grass. When Mare looked up, Farley was staring down at her, blocking the sunrays with her head. The blonde girl seemed to be smirking, even as she crouched down and offered Mare a bottle of water.

“Thank you,” Mare mumbled.

“Well, you’ve worked your body to the max, haven’t you?” Farley drawled as she took a seat beside Mare, who chugged the water up.

“I guess so,” She moaned, setting the water down. Mare lay back onto the grass and threw an arm across her eyes to shield them from the brightness.

“You should join the track team,” Farley said casually. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody run that fast in my life.”

“Thanks?” Mare managed to muster out.

“That was a compliment,” Farley grinned. Mare noticed a small gap in between her front teeth. “We train at lunch every Friday on the track field. We really need more people on the team, so do please consider joining.”

“Sure, I’ll think about it,” Mare said breathlessly.

“What’s been eating you?” Farley laughed, peering down at her. “You were running like hell out there.”

“I was?” Mare questioned idly.

“Well, yeah,” Farley confirmed. “I really should have recorded it. If coach ever saw that, you’d immediately be on the team. No questions asked. What did you think was chasing you?”

Mare groaned, and turned over on the grass. She paused before saying quietly, “The she-devil herself.”

“Cool,” Farley remarked. “Cool. What did she look like?”

“Evangeline Samos,” Mare blurted out.

“Spill,” She laughed loudly. “What’d she do to you?”

For a second, Mare contemplated telling her everything. About Evangeline, about Maven, about Mareena and her mother’s job. Farley was gazing at her levelly, and the expectant look on her face was what made her decide to tell her. That, and the gut feeling that was telling her Farley wasn’t on Evangeline’s side and probably wouldn’t ever be.

She had to tell someone.

“If I wasn’t mistaken in what I heard, she wants me to fill her in about Maven Calore’s every move,” Mare said, a small shiver coursing through her spine as she said the words. “Everything he says or does when she’s not around or whatever, I tell her about. She thinks I’m already really good friends with him. Not that I have any choice in the matter anymore, though, honestly.”

Farley was taken aback. “What the hell?”

“I know, right?” Mare yanked at her ponytail in frustration. “Like, I’m not a vigilante. I’m not here at Archeon as a freaking  _ spy.  _ I’m here to learn, and stay away from unwanted attention. I’m here in pursuit of… better education. Not to do some silver-haired bitch’s dirty work.”

Farley didn’t seem to be listening, but was nodding along anyway. She appeared to be deep in thought. Moments passed before she gave a response: “I take that you can’t back out of it.”

“Definitely not,” Mare shook her head. “She threatened my  _ mother’s job.  _ Basically, she works at her dad’s company, and for whatever reason they found out. It hasn’t even been a day, but now they’re using this against me.”

“I can’t believe they stooped to that level,” Farley commented, nose wrinkling in disgust. “But they’re the Samoses, after all. Honestly speaking, your mom would be lucky if he freed her from her job.”

“Do you have any idea why Evangeline’s keeping tabs on Maven?” Mare asked, taking another sip of water. “I mean, I do have an inkling, with their parents’ businesses and all.”

“Ah,” Farley knowingly arched an eyebrow. “You did your research, didn’t you? They’re pretty much sworn enemies since they’re the two biggest ones in the city. They’ve severed all ties with each other a long time ago, so I guess their kids are basically their pawns, since they actually see each other on a daily basis.”

“Their pawns?”

“Yeah,” She shrugged lightly. “I can’t exactly say what Evangeline’s intentions are, but I bet her parents set her up for that shit.”

“I see,” Mare gave a slow nod. “You seem to know a lot about them.”

She tucked a piece of gum into her mouth before offering Mare a piece. “Yeah, I kind of have to, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

“I used to be best friends with the girl who supposedly ran her over, after all,” Farley delivered, almost nonchalantly.

“You  _ what?” _

Bit by bit, morsel by morsel, Mare pulled the story out of her. Cameron Cole had been Farley’s closest friend before she’d hit Mareena with her car and was incarcerated, which explained why she seemed so interested in all of their affairs. Later on she revealed herself to be the writer of the article she’d read yesterday  —  the one that had implied that the accident hadn’t been an accident after all.

“Why?” Mare leaned in conspiratorially. “What do you think happened?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Farley paused. “But let me start by saying this  — I don’t think it was Cameron who hit Mareena with her car. It was all a staged act, and everyone ate it up.”

Mare nodded, her interested piqued, prompting her to keep going.

“And I theorise that Mareena hadn’t been crossing the road when the car hit her. She’d been driving herself. All of these news articles have failed to inform people of one specific detail — Mareena’s car has been missing ever since the night of her death.”

She raised her eyebrows skeptically. “So you think she was driving but something happened that made her die outside her car?”

Farley gave a vigorous nod. “The funny thing is,  _ nobody  _ is looking for her car. Nobody’s said anything about her car, and nobody probably will.”

“But what makes you think it wasn’t Cameron who hit her?” Mare inquired.

“I was on the phone with Cameron when it happened,” Farley replied, the grave look in her eyes mirroring her feelings. “I was trying to get her to stop driving because she was drunk and slurring about how she’d only had one drink, or three. Then she literally just stopped mid-sentence. She sounded like she’d been cut off. Then I heard this loud  _ click  _ sound, and some muffled whispering — I knew someone else was in the car at that point.”

Mare’s eyes widened. “Wait — But what was the click sound?”

“It sounded like a gun,” Farley’s voice lowered to a whisper. “Then there was a crash. I started shouting, which I  _ shouldn’t _  have done, because the guy probably heard and the line went dead.”

Her heartbeat was frantic in her chest. “Oh my god.”

“The person broke her phone, obviously. Mine switched off by itself. I was going to use my phone as evidence, trying to see if they could trace the call I had with her in any way, but when I turned it back on I noticed the call history was gone. They’d probably tapped my phone,” She declared and crossed her arms stiffly.

“What did you do after that?”

“I went to the police station and handed my phone over. They returned it the next day and told me they could find nothing on it. The same went for Cameron’s phone. It was like our call had never happened in the first place, which is really fishy, if you ask me.”

Thoughts swirled in Mare’s brain like a tornado tearing through a field. For all she knew, Farley could have fabricated this tale all so she could get her best friend out of jail, spare Cameron all her misery and save her from a lifetime of alcohol-free regret. However, a greater part of Mare was willing to believe in Farley’s story. Something in the girl’s words spoke true. Something about the constant question in Maven’s eyes and the wishy-washy quality in Cal’s answers told her that not all was what it seemed.

“Does Cameron remember any of it?” Mare asked her.

She shook her head a dejected  _ no.  _ “I guess she was really drunk.”

“She remembers nothing at all?” She prodded.

“No,” Farley responded. “She must have been drunk out of her mind. I have no idea how she managed to drive so far in her car, or to answer my call at all. I have an idea of how the guy managed to break into her car, though. She would have fought like hell if she’d been sober.”

“So, the person who did it… you think they were affiliated with the Calores somehow?” Mare was doubtful.

“Cameron used to be friends with Cal,” Farley confirmed it with a nod, expression twisting into one of distaste. Her voice started to become faraway as she began to narrate: “She told me all about it. He knew about her situation at home and that she really needed the cash, but she wasn’t willing to accept what people gave her. So he convinced his parents to give her a part time housekeeping job. She told me she was alone in their mansion once and eavesdropped on something she wasn’t supposed to hear. What it was, she didn't tell me.”

_ Friends with Cal.  _ Mare was reminded of the cold resentment in his eyes when Cal had spoken Cameron’s name. It was her who had killed his beloved Mareena, after all. But they’d been  _ friends? _

“Something sensitive that made them take her out, too. Maybe what she’d heard had to do with what Mareena had discovered. Or maybe it had something to do with Mareena herself.” Farley said, an impassioned fervour in her voice. “So they framed Cameron for Mareena’s death. Now they’ve silenced the only two people who know whatever the truth is about them,  _ killing two birds with one stone.” _

Mare was speechless, her brain trying to process all the information. Another rowboat drifted down the river they were sitting in front of, and she absentmindedly wondered how many had came and gone in the time she’d spent talking to Farley.

Farley was watching her, popping her chewing gum, waiting for a reaction. Did she believe her? Did she not?

“That was quite an info-dump,” Mare finally delivered, closing her eyes. “Give me a while to wrap my mind around it.”

Farley only nodded.

“Where does the Samos family stand in all this?” She sat up and opened her eyes.

“That’s the thing.” The other girl stretched her arms skyward, rising from the ground to kneel on the grass. “I don’t really know, but I know that they’re their archnemesis. I’m guessing they have an inkling of an idea about what the Calores are hiding, and are looking to use it against them.”

“So it’s all just business?” Mare questioned, tugging on the blades of grass beneath her fingers in a wayward manner. “They don’t have any… personal ties?”

“I don’t know,” Farley shook her head, choppy blonde ponytail swinging. “I don’t know anymore.”

“Oh, okay,” She muttered. She didn’t like the situation she’d been put in — having to violate somebody’s trust with her mother’s job on the line. “I just don’t understand why Evangeline would have asked me to spy on Maven.”

Farley grinned. Her wad of pink gum was stuck between two rows of shiny white teeth. “Wanna make it our mission to find out?”

“I don’t think I have any other choice, since I’ve been pulled into their little game of chess regardless of whether or not I like it,” Mare rubbed her temple.

“It’s like god hates you, or something,” Farley was laughing now. “Nobody told you to look like the dead girl.”

“All I wanted was a regular senior year,” She moaned.

“You know, you have the choice not to interact with him, right?” Farley suggested.

“You’re right,” She sat up abruptly. “Why didn’t I think about that? I’m not obligated to hang out with him. How will she get the information out of me when I won’t have had it in the first place?”

Farley’s face darkened in response. “Evangeline Samos is good at  _ making _  people do things, though. She’ll probably make you bend to her will.”

“I’m not gonna let her.” Mare tried to harden her voice and strengthen her resolve. “Besides, what can she do to me? I bet she was gloating about my mom’s job.”

“Rich kids don’t have hearts, Mare,” Farley’s tone of voice was a mixture of pity and dismissal. If Mare hadn’t known that Farley was right in the end, she would have been incensed. She had met Evangeline for two days, but she was already sure that the silver-haired girl was somebody who would go to lengths to get what she wanted — and succeed damn well at it.

“What do I do?”

Farley’s eyes seemed to glitter. “I say you should do it. Maven’s part of the Calore family, after all. If you stick around him for a while, he might start telling you things about Mareena. Then we’ll piece it all together and finally find out what really happened to her.”

"I don't think it's that simple," Mare stopped short. “Besides, I don’t want to be involved.”

“It might not be that simple, I know, but it'll be a start. And to be frank, you were already involved the moment you stepped foot in the school.” The other girl looked at her straight in the eye. “Mare, do you believe me? Do you believe what I said happened to Cameron?”

Mare weighed her options. She could either start distancing herself from Maven and risk her mother’s job position, or stay and provide both Evangeline and Farley with intel on Maven. Her friendship with him was forfeit either way. At that, something inside her sank in disappointment.

But what could he say or do that would be so incriminating, anyway? She imagined herself reporting to Evangeline at the end of a school day, informing her for the fourteenth time that Maven had ordered a beef burger for lunch. What even would Evangeline gain from it?

And there was one more thing — where did he and his brother stand in all this? For the first time, Mare found herself starting to believe in all the gossip and rumors surrounding the both of them. Beneath their gloves, she didn't think their hands were perfectly clean. 

“I guess I do.” That much was fact.

“Then help me, will you?” Farley pleaded. “We’ll find a way to get you away from Evangeline.”

“I have to do it,” Mare gave a tight little smile. “And I do. I want to help you, too.”

“Alright,” She beamed at her, and extended a hand towards her with the intention to help her up from the grass. “Let’s stop talking about this. How about I show you all the good ice cream places around here for now?”

“I’m down,” Mare was up and running the moment she said it. “And Farley — one last thing. You should probably get rid of your phone.”

“What?”

“Get rid of your phone,” She repeated, following her down the sidewalk beside the river. “You think it’s tapped, right? For all we know, someone could be listening to us right now through its speakers.”

“Wouldn’t they have done something by now?” Farley paused in a moment of consideration. “For all I know, my phone is probably the last piece of evidence tying Cameron to her innocence, which is the one thing I’m sure of.”

“Have you spoken to anybody else about this?” Mare responded with a question.

Farley thought for a moment or two. "No. Not really, now that I think about it."

“I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry,” She shrugged. “You never know, and if I were you, I’d be taking precautions.”

\--

When Mare finally got home after two rounds of ice cream (the cones they sold in the city were too expensive for her taste) and more of Farley’s nagging about her joining the track team (she had told her she’d take it into good consideration), she sat at her computer and clicked on the link she’d meant to access yesterday. It was the link to Farley’s well-hidden blogpost about Mareena Titanos, and her allegedly not-so-accidental death.

_ ERROR 404, _  the page said in the biggest, boldest font possible.  _ PAGE NOT FOUND. _

She tried reloading the page, which didn’t work. She phoned Farley, who confirmed that it hadn’t been her who had taken her post down.

“I can’t access my blog,” Farley croaked out from the other end of the line. There was a calmness to her voice that Mare hadn’t expected. She pressed her phone harder against her ear. “It’s either that the entire site is down, or that they have officially issued a threat against me.”

“Don’t be silly,” Mare reassured.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Mare,” Farley’s voice seemed more distorted through the phone.

“Sure. Bye.”

“Remember to tell coach you’re signing up.” She cut the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thank u for reading. please kudos and comment ur ideas!! u can find me on tumblr at @mavencalore for news on updates,, i love u all :-)


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